*i.V«Ji. 


\V|LL1AIV1>1_lBAKER. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

LIBRARY 


THE  WILMER  COLLECTION 

OF  CIML  WAR  NOVELS 

PRESENTED  BY 

RICHARD  H.  WILMER,  JR. 


u 


i^s  '  '^ 


MOSE   EVANS: 


A  SIMPLE  STATEMENT  OF  THE  SINGULAR 
FACTS  OF  HIS  CASE. 


BY 


WILLIAM   M.   BAKER, 

AUTHOR  OF    "  IXSIDE,    A   CHROXICLE   OF  SECESSION," 
"the  new  TIMOTHY,"    ETC.,   ETC. 


NEW    YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  IIURD   AND  HOUGHTON. 

Cambribge:  ®lie  Hbcrsibc  \}xc55, 

1874. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

WiLLiA3i  M.  Baker, 
ir  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


stvERsiDS,  Cambridge: 

BTEREOTYPED     AND     PRINTED     BT 
H.   0.    HOUGHTON   AND   COMPANY. 


TO 


Mr.  W.  D.   HOWELLS. 

My  dear  Mr.  Howells. 

As  this  book  was  written  in  moments  snatched  from 
that  Profession  which  is  the  chief  business  of  my  life,  it 
has  devolved  —  during  its  publication  in  the  "Atlantic 
Monthly"  —  a  degree  of  labor  upon  you  as  Editor,  which 
I  have  all  along  greatly  regretted. 

Allow  me,  then,  to  inscribe  the  volume  to  you,  in  token 
of  my  sense  of  your  unfailing  courtesy, 
And  to  remain, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

W.  M.  B. 


**<Sntr  crcatclf  man  tii  Ijt^  trton  imafic,  tn  ii)t  imajsc  at 
6atf  rrcatctr  i^c  Ijim;  male  anir  female  crcatcti  |^e  tijcm." 


"For  woman  is  not  undeveloped  man, 
But  diverse:  could  we  make  her  as  the  man, 
Sweet  love  were  slain,  whose  dearest  bond  is  this, 
Not  like  to  like,  but  like  in  difference: 
Yet  in  the  long  years  liker  must  they  grow; 
The  man  be  more  of  woman,  she  of  man; 
He  gain  in  sweetness  and  in  moral  height, 
Nor  lose  the  wrestling  thews  that  throw  the  world; 
She  mental  breadth  — 
Till  at  the  last  she  set  herself  to  man. 
Like  perfect  music  unto  noble  words; 
And  so  these  twain,  upon  the  skirts  of  Time, 
Sit  side  by  side,  full  summed  in  all  their  powers. 
Then  comes  the  statelier  Eden  back  to  men: 
Then  reigns  the  world's  great  bridals,  chaste  and  calm: 
Then  springs  the  crowning  race  of  Human  kind !  " 


MOSE  EVANS. 


I. 

Just  where  the  prairie  fire  did  fiercest  sweep, 

The  grass  grows  richest,  green  and  strong  and  deep ! 

It  was  most  unbusiness-like  in  me  !  Yet  I  can- 
not acknowledge  it  to  be  ungentlemanly,  for  I  had 
no  intention  of  the  sort.  Shot  enough,  Heaven 
knows,  had  come  from  my  side  abeady ;  the  shat- 
tered houses  all  around  us  as  I  spoke  testified  to 
that.  My  engagement  to  Helen  Sinclair,  resulting 
in  marriage  that  very  noon,  —  I  recall  it  as  I  write, 
—  itself  would  have  prevented  me. 

"  Allow  me  to  say,  General,"  that  was  all  I  did 
say,  "it  was  what  your  royalist  ancestor  did  in 
coming  over  from  England !  " 

It  is  to  old  General  Theodore  Throop  of  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina,  I  make  the  miserable  remark, 
and  in  Charleston  almost  before  the  cannon  are 
cold. 

But,  please  let  it  be  perfectly  understood,  there 


2  MOSE  EVANS. 

is  to  be  no  passing  over,  much  less  camping  upon, 
the  battle-fields  of  the  Rebellion  in  these  pages. 
I  heartily  agreed  with  Miss  Sinclair  that  the  man 
must  be  very  wicked  or  very  weak  who  would  hin- 
der the  hand  that  is  so  surely  reclothing  these  torn 
plains,  and  in  every  sense,  with  grass  and  grain. 
I  only  record  my  blunder  and  the  General's  reply 
for — reasons ! 

"  Yes,  sir  !  "  The  General  flushes,  as  he  repUes, 
not  merely  over  his  great  face  ;  I  see  the  glow  run 
far  back  under  the  white  hair  of  his  forehead,  to 
the  very  tips  of  the  large  hands  rested  on  the  head 
of  his  yellow  cane  !  The  heart  leaves  no  inch  of 
the  General's  portly  person  untinged  by  its  ex- 
asperation. "  Yes,  sir !  And  it  was  by  Puritan 
fanaticism  he  was  driven  across  the  Atlantic  !  It 
is  the  same  thoroughly  detestable  Puritanism  which 
has  ruined  me,  sir,  compels  me,  sir,  in  my  old  age, 
to  go  to  even  a  ruder  West.  I  tell  you,  sir !  "  — 
There  is  tremor  as  well  as  deepening  color  in  the 
grand  old  soul,  as  he  rises  from  his  seat  and  grasps 
the  ivory -headed  cane  as  if  it  were  a  sword.  "  I 
t^ll  you,  sir  !  "  — 

Xow,  what  is  the  use  ?  The  General  was  bom 
in  South  Carolina.  I  was  born,  I  am  proud  to  say, 
in  New  England.     It  is  all  over,  —  our  being  born 


m 


MOSE  EVANS.  3 

and  the  war.  Besides,  it  neither  merits  nor  de- 
merits anything.  Moreover,  here  is  the  present 
and  the  future  to  be  practically  settled.  I  was  a 
land-agent  at  the  time.  I  violate  no  confidence 
when  I  say  that  I  was,  at  that  date,  in  charge  of 
the  extensive  affairs,  since  very  lucrative,  of  the 
Great  Western  Land  Company,  having  been  my- 
self the  author  (a  friend,  "  old  New  Hampshire," 
being,  as  you  will  see,  the  largest  owner)  of  the 
whole  scheme.  I  frankly  say,  as  land-agent  I  made 
the  acquaintance  of  General  Theodore  Throop, 
and  our  conversation  took  place  the  first  day  I 
approached  him  in  reference  to  exchange  of  real 
estate.  I  knew  —  who  did  not  know?  —  that  the 
General  was  ruined  in  the  ruin  of  Charleston  by 
the  war.  As  I  succeeded,  to  oiu'  mutual  advan- 
tage, in  afterward  showing  him,  he  could  make  far 
more  of  property  out  West  by  setthng  it  than  he 
could  ever  hope  for  in  relation  to  his  Charleston 
estate. 

Of  course  the  reader  has  read  of  the  magnifi- 
cent mines  of  marl  opened  since  the  war,  but  lying 
undreamed  of  under  the  feet  of  the  South  Caro- 
linians till  then.  It  is  like  the  gold  and  the  silver, 
and  the  value  in  the  soil,  nobler  still,  producing 
such  splendid  fruits  and  crops,  over  which  CaUfor- 


4  MOSE  EVANS. 

nian  aborigines  and  Spaniards  wandered  with  idle 
steps  so  long.  Why  should  I  have  told  General 
Throop  all  my  reasons  for  our  bargain  ?  He 
would  have  despised  the  marl  as  portion  of  the 
new  and  detested  era. 

"  Ever  since  I  came  here,"  I  remarked  to  my 
young  wife,  —  bride,  in  fact,  —  the  very  evening 
of  my  first  conversation  with  General  Throop, 
*'  those  old  lines  have  been  ringing  in  my  head, — 

*  Oh  the  holy  Koman  Empire ! 
How  holds  it  still  together,'  — 

miserable  doggerel,  and  where  did  I  get  it  from  ?  " 

"  Faust,"  my  wife  replies.  *'  He  sings  it,  or 
somebody  does,  in  the  wine-cellar." 

"  This  Charleston  suggests  it  less  than  does  the 
General  himself,  who  is  himself  Charleston.  Such 
a  steady  grandeur  in  the  General  still,  the  inertia 
of  two  hundred  years  of  position  and  power  I "  I 
go  on  to  add. 

"  By  the  by,  Henry,  when  and  where  did  7/ou 
make  acquaintance  with  Goethe  ?  "  It  is  some 
two  weeks  after  this  that  my  wife  asks  the  imper- 
tinent question,  doing  up  or  undoing  down  her 
hair  for  the  night  at  the  glass  as  she  does  so. 

"  I  perfectl}^  understand,  Helen,  the  i/ozi  of  your 
question,"  I  make  placid  return.     "  I  zvas  a  news- 


MOSE  EVANS.  5 

paper-boy  from  ray  sixth  year ;  did  black  boots, 
even,  I  do  believe.  I  told  you  the  whole  story. 
Somehow,  here,  in  my  stay  in  your  South,  during 
my  little  runs  over  Europe,  I  have  gathered  some- 
thing besides  money." 

"  You  know  perfectly  well,  Henry,"  —  my  wife 
faces  me  in  a  magnificent  back-ground  of  loosened 
hair,  —  "  that  you  are  "  — 

"  The  exact  opposite  of  General  Throop.  South 
Pole  and  North  Pole.  Old  era  and  new.  The 
largest  good  travel  and  reading  have  done  me,"  I 
add,  "  is  that  I  have  come  to  see  things  as  they 
exactly  are ! " 

"  You  do  not  know  how  struck  I  was,  dear," 
my  wife  said,  on  this  occasion,  after  certain  en- 
dearments which  made  it  necessary  to  do  all  that 
wealth  of  hair  entirely  over  again,  "with  your 
plans  to  buy  up  Charleston  property  at  its  lowest 
ebb  because  "  — 

"  The  lowest  ebb  is  the  turn  of  the  tide  toward 
flood,"  I  add.  "  Yes,  I  possess  the  money-making 
faculty,  I  do  believe.  And  I  happen,  also,  to 
know  that  General  Throop  possesses,  apart  from 
money  and  in  himself,  all  the  deference  paid  only 
to  money.  There  is  a  certain  something,  —  a 
James  ^ladison,  George  Washington,  —  something 


6  MOSE  EVANS. 

in  the  man  Tvliich  compels  from  all  a  respect  be- 
yond"— 

"  That  is  why  I  loved  you,  Henr^^ ;  not  your 
having  it,  dear,  your  being  able  to  see  and  ac- 
knowledge it  in  our  people.  But  it  is  to  please 
me  you  have  made  your  home  in  Charleston  ;  all 
that  about  business  is  only  pretense." 

But  my  wife  was  mistaken.  General  Throop 
never  had  reason  to  regret  our  real-estate  transac- 
tions. I  am  living,  as  I  write,  in  the  former  man- 
sion of  the  Throops  near  St.  Peter's  Church  in 
Charleston.  I  remember  so  well  the  evening:  I 
first  entered  this  house.  My  conversation  with  the 
General,  with  which  I  begin  these  pages,  was  soon 
after  my  making  his  acquaintance.  During  the 
months  after,  it  was  long  and  hard  work,  —  ex- 
tremely delicate  work  on  my  part ;  he  came  not 
only  to  see  the  sound  sense  of  my  business  sugges- 
tions, but  to  take  a  liking  for  me.  I  wonder  — 
it  flashes  upon  me  as  I  write  —  if  that  was  not 
largely  because  of  my  sincere  respect  and  admira- 
tion for  the  General  himself ;  for  I  can  make  all 
allowance  for  one  who  lived  in  a  different  era  from 
myself,  —  more  than  Oliver  Cromwell  made,  I  feel 
sure,  for  Charles  I.  But  is  not  this  very  making 
all  allowance  for  other  people  itself  a  part,  not  the 
least  excellent  part  of  our  neiv  era? 


^[OSE  EVANS.  7 

"  Can  you  not  take  tea  with  us,  Mr.  Ander- 
son ?  "  he  said  to  me,  at  hist,  during  the  conversa- 
tion wherewith  this  narrative  begins.  "  Let  us 
say  on  Thursday  evening.  Thursday  ?  No,  that 
is  the  Fast  of  St.  Sebastian  the  martyr,  —  a  mat- 
ter of  my  wife's,"  the  General  explained,  with  a 
slight  flush.     "  Say  Friday  evening?  " 

Now,  I  knew  it  was  to  the  General  very  much 
as  if  an  inhabitant  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain 
had  made  like  request  of  a  denizen  of  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Antoine.  I  was  pleased  at  his  liking 
me.  I  hke  the  liking  of  any  good  man  ;  so  I  said, 
"  I  thank  you,  sir,  but  it  is  not  in  my  power." 
And  I  suppose  there  was  a  flush  on  my  face  now. 
"  I  am  a  married  man,  General,  and  Mrs.  Ander- 
son is  with  me  at  the  hotel,"  I  added. 

"  Ah,  excuse  me  !  "  in  return.  For  here  was 
very  grave  matter.  The  General  sat  still  in  portly 
body  before  me  in  my  office ;  really  he  was,  on  the 
instant,  in  his  gloomy  old  parlor,  laying  the  mat- 
ter before  his  wife  and  daughter,  and  there,  ex- 
cusing himself  almost  immediately,  he  was  in  per- 
son two  hours  later. 

"  They  will  invite  us,  Henry,"  my  wife  said  to 
me  that  night.  "  I  am  glad  of  it,  because  I  am 
so  tired  of  this  soHtary  hotel  life.     I  knew  Agnes 


8  >    MOSE  EVANS. 

Throop  at  school.  But,  especially  since  I  married 
you^  she  lias  to  approach  me  first ;  has  to,  if  she  is 
an  angel.  Besides,  it  gives  you  a  firmer  position 
in  business.  And  then  the  Throops  give  admit- 
tance to  —  Charleston  !  "  And  if  my  wife  kissed 
me  once,  she  did  several  times  in  the  course  of  the 
evening,  singing  her  gayest  songs  at  the  piano,  in 
the  hotel  parlor,  no  one  but  ourselves  being  in  the 
room ;  dressing  herself  more  brightly  than  since 
we  came.  Amazing  the  value  women  attach  to 
certain  things  !  If  it  had  been  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars cleared  in  a  transaction,  my  wife  could  not 
have  been  more  delighted. 

"  Because  it  shows  I  was  right  in  loving  you, 
Henry,"  she  explained.  "  I  knew  General  Throop 
would  learn  to  know  you.    Did  you  tell  him  all?" 

"  There  is  nothing  I  am  ashamed  to  tell  him,  I 
am  sure,"  I  began. 

"  Because  I  am  almost  afraid,  at  last,"  my  wife 
said,  more  soberly.  "  You  see,  Henry,  I  know  all 
about  the  Throops.  There  are  only  three  of  them 
now.  Theodore,  the  only  son,  was  killed  by  a 
splinter  of  rock  in  Sumter  during  the  siege.  Mrs. 
Throop  and  Agnes  and  —  I  suppose  I  should  say 
—  Mr.  Clammeigh  make  up  the  family." 

"  Mr.  Clammeigh  !     The  lawyer  ?  "  I  ask. 


MOSE  EVANS.  9 

"Tall,  black-haired,  exceedingly  neat,  very 
composed,  perfectly  fitting  clothes  "  — 

"  He  is  our  legal  adviser,"  I  interrupt.  "  Very 
silent  and  cold;  such  a  gentleman  as  you  will  find 
in  the  social  circle  of  a  wax-work  exhibition." 

"  Yes ;  oh,  of  course,"  my  wife  replies,  in  a  per- 
plexed way.     ''  I  vnR  tell  you  in  a  moment  why  I 
happen  to  know  him."  — It  is  the  strangest  way 
people  have  I     (I  make  the  remark  here  while  my 
wife  hesitates.)     You  cannot  mention  Mr.  Clam- 
meigh's   name,  but   somehow,  after  a  curious  si- 
lence, there   is   somebody  certain  to  say,  "  Now, 
you  may  say  what   you   please,  but   I  like  Mr. 
Clammeigh !  "   in  a  defiant  way,  as  if   some  one 
had  attacked   him.  —  "  If   he  ever  did   anything 
wrong   I  never   knew  of   it.     But  somehow"  — 
And  I  saw  that  my  wife,  her  hands  resting  upon 
the  keys  of   the  piano  was  really  looking  at  my 
lawyer  in  the  full-length  portrait  of  the  mother  of 
Washington  hanging  upon  the  wall  before  her  and 
over  the  instrument.     ''  They  say  they  were  en- 
gaged before   the  war,"  she  added,  beginning   a 
low-tuned  tinkling  upon  the  keys  as  she  said  it. 

''  Engaged  to  Miss  Throop  ?  How  do  you  know 
anything "Ibout  it?  I  do  believe  you  ladies  had 
an  instinct,  through  the  globe,  of  the  betrothal  of 
the  Emperor  of  China." 


10  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  Women  do  not  always  tell  everything,  Henry, 
"when  it  is  a  matter  of  feeling  and  has  reference  to 
a  man  —  I  mean  to  another  woman.  Did  I  ever 
tell  you  that  I  was  at  a  convent  school  with  Agnes 
Throop  ?  "  And  my  wife,  as  she  said  it,  played  a 
little  louder. 

"  I  knew  that  you  were  born  and  educated  in 
South  CaroHna,"  I  said.     "  But  why  ?  " 

"  Because  of  your  birth  in  New  England,  your 
—  and  my  political  opinions  !  I  said  to  myself. 
Let  the  Throops  find  out  who  Mrs.  Anderson  is  if 
they  wish  to  ;  I  do  not  care  a  picayune  !  What  a 
fib  !  Oh,  I  do  hope,  Henry,  we  shall  be  asked  !  " 
And  my  wife  turns  to  me,  actually  crying.  '^  I 
love  Agnes  so,  and  we  have  not  spoken  to  each 
other  since  we  left  school.  And  now  that  we  are 
married,  I  want  you  to  know  her,  Henry." 

"  Now  that  we  are  married  ?  " 

"  Because  you  would  have  fallen  in  love  with 
her  desperately,  but  for  that !  " 

"  What  a  foolish  remark  !     I  beg  pardon." 

"  Perfectly  natural.  Wait  till  you  see  Agnes, 
and  you  will  understand  !  "  my  wife  replies.  I 
did  wait  and  I  did  understand  ! 

"  Did  you  observe  anything  when  you  first 
mentioned  Mr.  Clammeigh,  —  in  me,  I  mean  ?  " 


MOSE  EVANS.  11 

my  wife  asked,  after  some  long-continued  tinkling 
upon  tlie  piano. 

"  Your  face  was  from  me,  but  I  imagined  at 
the  moment  you  gave  a  little  start,"  I  said,  won- 
dering a  little. 

"  Because,"  my  bride  replied,  turning  around 
on  the  screw  of  the  music  stool,  seat  and  all,  look- 
ing me  full  in  the  face,  paling  a  little,  but  her 
steady  eyes  of  blue  in  mine,  — ''  because  I  once 
supposed  I  was  to  —  would  —  Henry,  Mr.  Clam- 
meigli  and  myseK  were  once  engaged  to  be  mar- 
ried !  " 

I  rather  think  the  pain  was  greater  than  the 
surprise  on  my  part,  and  she  saw  it  in  my  eyes. 

"  You  remember,  Henry,  I  told  you  of  the  fact 
without  the  name,"  she  went  steadily  on,  her  eyes 
never  leaving  mine.  ''I  was  very  young,  very 
young  I  He  is  not  a  day  older  now  than  he  was 
then,  looks  exactly  the  same  in  every  respect  now 
as  then,  —  like  a  corpse !  No,  I  mean  like  a  wax 
imao-e  in  a  show.  Never  mind  how  it  began,  nor 
how  it  ended.  He  was  teaching  school  near  my 
father's  plantation  then  I  I  had  to  conceal  it  from 
my  father  and  brother,  as  they  would  have  shot — 
no,  they  had  too  much  sense.  I  did  love  that 
man  then.     I  do  not  love  him  now."     No  special 


12  MOSE  EVANS. 

emphasis,  but  exceeding  meaning  in  the  way  the 
words  were  spoken.  "  And  I  do  love  you,  Mr. 
Henry  Anderson,  land-agent,  from  New  England, 
with  all  my  heart !  "  And  I  was  perfectly  satis- 
fied, seeing,  as  I  did,  the  entire  woman  in  those 
loving  eyes. 

"  It  will  be  no  barrier  to  our  associating  with 
them,"  my  wife  said  half  an  hour  afterward. 
"  Mr.  Clammeigh  will  know  me.  I  know  him. 
Agnes  Throop  will  not  be  disturbed  by  me  in  the 
version  of  the  matter  her  betrothed  will  hasten  to 
give  her.  He  is  an  admirable  law^^er,  —  not 
before  a  jury,  but  for  office- work,  —  which  is  all 
you  care  about  in  him  ;  but  it  is  strange.  And,'* 
my  wife  added,  with  clouded  eyes,  "  the  strangest 
part  of  all  is  in  the  future." 

"  How  do  you  know.  Miss  Medea  ?  "  I  ask. 

"  Wait,  O  Jason,  and  you  will  see ! "  she  replies. 
It  will  sufficiently  explain  all  this  to  say  that  we 
were  together  in  Paris  before  our  marriage  and 
saw  Rachel  in  the  tragedy  in  question. 


n. 

The  sturdiest  Faith  is  born  of  deepest  Doubt; 
No  Victory  so  complete  as  refluent  Rout ; 
Blood  blendeth  best  with  blood  in  battle  poured ; 
"What  hands  so  clasp  as  those  which  drop  the  sword  ? 

In  a  week  after  the  General's  first  allusion  to 
the  matter  Mrs.  Throop  and  their  daughter  made 
the  formal  call ;  after  due  return  of  which  we  did 
take  tea  with  General  Throop  and  his  household. 

"  They  thoroughly  like  you,  Henry,"  my  wife 
said  to  me  after  both  events.  "  General  Throop 
knows  a  genuine  gentleman  when  he  sees  him,  and 
by  the  instinct  of  a  gentleman.  Agnes  and  myself 
were,  in  an  instant,  as  if  we  had  parted  only  yes- 
terday at  the  convent.  And  a  true  woman  knows 
a  true  woman  too.  I  have  never  met  a  woman  — 
my  mother  died  when  I  was  an  infant  —  to  com- 
pare with  Agnes  Throop  !  " 

Let  me  record  it  frankly  just  here  :  besides  my 
dear  wife,  Agnes  Throop  is  to  me  the  woman  best 
worth  knowing  of  all  the  race.  I  hardly  under- 
stand more  of  her  style  of  beauty  than  I  do  of  her 


14  MOSE  EVANS. 

dress,  material  and  cut ;  but  I  know  there  was  a 
peculiar  loveliness  in  her  —  which  I  will  not  mar 
by  attempting  to  describe  —  as  indescribable  as  is 
the  violet-characteristic  of  a  violet,  making  that 
flower  to  differ  —  shall  we  say  from  a  dahlia  ?  for 
my  wife  is  a  brunette.  Mrs.  General  Throop  is  a 
partial  explanation  of  her  daughter. 

I  understood  all  my  wife  told  me  of  her  as  we 
were  dressing  to  go  there  to  tea,  in  the  first  half 
an  hour  after  we  were  in  the  old-fashioned  parlor. 
It  is  down  staii-s,  as  I  write,  curiously  carved 
marble  mantel  and  all.  If  I  live  —  it  is  Helen's 
suggestion  —  till  that  next  anniversary,  I  intend 
to  have  that  same  mantel  carefully  taken  down, 
packed,  and  sent.  But  never  mind  about  that 
just  now. 

It  was  in  the  cool  of  an  early  autumn,  and  Mrs. 
Throop  was  standing  beside  the  mantel  the  even- 
ing we  took  tea  there  for  the  first  time,  when 
General  Throop  introduced  me.  Dressed  in  black, 
jet  cross  upon  her  bosom,  jet  hair  silvered  with 
the  gray  of  her  sixty  years  here  and  there.  Of 
course,  if  my  wife  had  not  prepared  me  for  it,  I 
should  have  been  unprepared.  As  it  was,  I 
brought  my  business  faculty  into  unconscious  ex- 
ercise as  I  often  —  invariably  —  do  when  d(5ahng 


MOSE  EVANS.  15 

with  a  stranger,  —  yourself,  if  you  will  allow  me. 
It  is  experience,  I  suppose,  but  I  make  final 
decision,  in  the  ten  minutes  after  introduction, 
whether  or  no  you  are  a  trained  swindler,  or  a  rich 
ignoramus,  or  an  insolvent  ne'er-do-well,  or  simply 
what  you  say  of  yourself.  So,  when  I  met  Mrs. 
Throop  I  entrenched  myself  rapidly,  before  those 
terrible  eyes  and  her  most  peculiar  manner,  in 
that  way.  Whatever  we  were  saying  with  our 
lips,  what  she  said  with  those  singular  eyes  was 
this  :  "  I  understand  you  perfectly,  sir  !  you  are  a 
New-Englander.  You  were  caught  by  business, 
when  the  war  broke  out,  in  Alabama.  You  hated 
secession  more  heartily  every  day  by  reason  of 
being  conscripted.  You  went  through  battles 
without  firing  your  gun,  holding  yourself  only  by 
main  force  from  shooting  your  own  Confederate 
officers.  You  are  heartily  glad  Mr.  Davis  was 
overthrown.  You  are  speculating  in  land.  You 
love  money  desperately  because  it  is  power.  You 
have  awful  defects  and  "  — 

It  was  merely  by  way  of  parry,  not  thrust, 
that  I  crossed  swords  with  those  inexpressible  eyes 
by  saving,  only  with  my  eyes,  to  myself  and  to 
her :  ^'  AU  your  life,  madam,  you  were  too  rich, 
and  thus  made  selfish,  —  yourself  became  your 


16  MOSE  EVANS. 

occupation  and  your  weariness.  The  long  siege  of 
Charleston  and  the  killing  of  your  only  son  has 
kept  you  at  such  strain  of  nerves  in  reference  to 
yourself  more  than  ever  as  that  you  cannot  sleep 
at  night,  —  hovr  intensely  wide  awake  during  the 
day !  And  you  are  a  ritualist.  I  blame  your 
forms  of  religion  for  that  no  more  than  I  do  the 
particular  street  a  man  in  delirium  of  fever  dashes 
down,  escaping  from  his  chamber.  Except  this, 
obeying  a  purer  gospel,  you  would  have  gone  ut- 
terly out  of  and  apart  from  yourself  to  the  suffi- 
cient Saviour,  standing  away  from  you,  but  bid- 
ding you  come,  leaving  yourself  behind,  to  Him. 
All  your  perpetual  observances  are  but  the  work- 
ings of  the  same  unceasing  introspection.  By 
long- continued,  tensely  strained  gaze  inward  upon 
your  own  soul  you  have  grown  into  the  second 
nature  of  your  exceeding  insight  as  to  the  inmost 
souls  of  others  "  — 

I  think  I  am  a  sensible,  practical  man.  I  do 
heartily  despise  mesmerism  and  spiritualism,  but  I 
have  met  Mrs.  Throop  !  I  find  I  have  to  abandon 
the  making  you  understand  anything  about  her. 
Her  soul  had  so  worn  the  body  threadbare,  as  by 
perpetually  grinding  spirit  against  the  flesh,  that 
she  was  to  you  almost  purely  a  soul,  having  to  do 


MOSE  EVANS.  17 

only  with  the  soul  in  you  too.  Yes,  I  will  stop. 
The  reader  who  has  met  such  persons  will  excuse 
my  failure  in  describing  this  lady.  Mr.  Clam- 
meigh  was  a  great  relief  that  evening.  If  you 
desire  to  interest  a  statue  of  Apollo  in  your  con- 
versation, your  work  is  hard,  —  so  steadily  inter- 
ested in  all  you  are  saying  as  to  his  eyes,  so  essen- 
tially uninterested  in  you  and  all  your  fly-like 
buzz  as  to  his  soul.  Because  I  know  land,  know 
cotton,  by  having  come  pretty  thoroughly  to  know 
the  man  who  sells  the  same  !  What  did  I  care, 
however,  for  Mr.  Clammeigh's  perfect  propriety, 
accurate  excellence,  gentlemanly  reticence  ?  He 
had  to  do  our  law  work  to  our  company's  satisfac- 
tion, or  there  were  other  lawyers.  As  to  Helen  ? 
Here,  too,  being  only  a  land-agent,  having  no  fa- 
cility with  my  pen,  I  cannot  make  you  understand 
how  perfectly  we  understood  Mr.  Clammeigh.  So 
far  as  Helen  or  myself  was  concerned,  he  was  a 
corpse  with  all  of  the  death  of  a  corpse,  but  un- 
touched, I  do  assure  you,  by  one  of  the  tears  gen 
erally  dropped  upon  such  ! 

And  the  reader  must  allow  me  to  make  an  ex 
planation  here.     I  said  I  have  no  literary  facility. 
being  merely  a  man  of  busiaess.     Now  a  friend, 
whose  painful  task  has  been  to  look  over  my  manii 


18  MOSE  EVANS. 

script,  entreats  me  to  correct  my  style,  or  at  least 
"put  in  more  verbs."  I  have  no  objection  to 
verbs,  none  at  all,  if  I  but  knew  what  verbs  and 
where  to  put  them  !  ^ly  business  correspondence 
has  not  been  considered  uninteresting,  —  for  the 
matter,  however,  not  the  manner  :  please  accept 
this  narrative  in  that  way. 

I  am  not  dealing  with  characters,  but  actual 
persons.  I  know  I  should  let  them  live  for  them- 
selves on  these  pages  instead  of  trying  to  portray 
them,  but  neither  Mrs.  Throop  nor  Mr.  Clam- 
meigh  express  themselves  at  all  in  their  words ; 
you  had  to  know  them  in  person.  Therefore  I 
have  a  dozen  times  given  up  all  idea  of  attempting 
to  make  this  narration.  But  how  can  I  help  my- 
seK  ?  The  whole  affair  is,  in  certain  senses,  the 
most  remarkable  of  my  life  ;  it  will  cease  to  press 
upon  me  when  I  have  fairly  written  it  out,  —  that 
is,  as  well  as  I  can. 

"  Did  you  observe  our  meeting  ?  "  my  wife  asked 
me  afterward. 

"  No,  I  completely  forgot  about  all  that,"  I 
said.  "  I  was  in  the  custody,  at  the  moment,  of 
Mrs.  Throop." 

"We  were  both  perfectly  prepared  for  it,  of 
course  !  "    my  wife  said.      "  I  merely  remarked, 


MOSE  EVANS.  19 

when  introduced,  'We  have  met  before,  I  believe.' 
I  thought  his  steady  pallor  turned  a  shade  of  yel- 
low at  first,  I  don't  know.  It  is  amazing  how 
keenly  people  can  live  and  afterward  utterly  die ; 
it  almost  shakes  my  belief  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,"  my  wife  added. 

"  His  soul  seems,  at  least,  to  have  w^ithdrawn 
itself  from  the  surface,"  I  said.  "  The  hand  of  a 
dead  man  has  as  little  warmth  and  pressure.  I 
dare  say  you  have  prejudiced  me.  The  man  has 
come  to  hide  himself  very  perfectly  in  himself,  but 
it  may  be  mere  timidity  ;  a  rabbit  burrows  as 
deeply  in  its  hole  from  fright  as  a  robber  in  his 
cave  for  ambush." 

"  Did  you  notice  Agnes  Throop  ? "  my  wife 
asks. 

"  How  could  I  help  it  ?  At  least  after  I  passed 
from  Mrs.  Throop  to  the  mere  bodily  presence  of 
her  husband.  She  is  more  frail  and  more  beau- 
tiful than  I  had  expected." 

"  But  it  was  touching  !  "  my  wife  continues. 
"  I  did  not  need  that  special  tenderness  in  her  eyes 
and  her  kiss  at  meeting  and  parting,  to  see  that 
Mr.  Clammeigh  had  told  her  everything.  I  was 
more  vexed  and  touched  than  I  can  say !  It  Avas 
so  at  the  convent,"  my  wife  continues,  after  long 
thought.     "  The  girl  bewitched  those  pallid  old 


20  MOSE  EVANS. 

nuns ;  they  crossed  themselves  and  petted  and 
ahnost  dreaded  her.  An  unaccountable  fascina- 
tion of  manner  ?  eyes  ?  —  what  is  it  ?  " 

*'  iNIagnetism,"  I  make  reply,  for  I  have  not  for 
nothing  heard  so  many  lectures  in  Boston.  "  Ex- 
cess of  electricity.  She  has  instant,  ready,  amaz- 
ing s^^mpathy  for  almost  every  person  she  meets. 
She  is  giving  her  soul  away  all  the  time.  And 
she  requires  and  has  everybody  else's  soul  back  in 
return.  If  she  was  to  spend  an  evening  in  one 
of  those  five-acre  parlors  at  Saratoga,  every  one  of 
the  five  hundred  who  were  thrown  with  her  would 
say,  —  every  man,  child,  even  woman  of  them 
would  say,  —  '  What  a  charming  woman  !  '  I 
would  say  myself  that  only  love  like  hers  could 
melt  that  man  Clammeigh.  Ah,  how  she  loves 
him !  " 

"  I  wonder,  wonder,  wonder,"  m}^  wife  said, 
dreamily,  and  explained  by  adding,  "  Oh,  never 
mind  !  " 

"  Mrs.  Throop,"  I  say,  as  much  to  myself  as  to 
my  wife,  "  is  what  the  French  call  —  I  know  my 
pronunciation  is  wrong — a.  femme  exalte e.  Mad- 
ame Roland  in  politics,  Madame  Kriidener  in  re- 
ligion, possibly  ^ladame  Guyon  in  the  same,  Char- 
lotte Corday  in  vengeance.  In  various  forms  it  is 
all  Joan  of  Arc  over  and  over  again.     I  never  had 


MOSE  EVANS.  21 

exactly  the  same  experience,  —  experience  as  to 
another  individual  I  mean.  She  was  to  me  as  if 
my  conscience  had  taken  flesh  and  dress  in  her 
person  and  stood  before  me." 

"  And  therefore  you  made  so  clean  a  breast  of  it 
at  supper  ?  "  my  wife  asked. 

"  Oh,  in  mentioning  —  incidentally  and  very  qui- 
etly, I  am  sure  —  that  I  was  from  New  England  ; 
that,  although  you  are  from  the  South,  you  held 
throuo-h  the  war  the  same  Union  sentiments  as 
myself  ?  Yes,  I  think  it  always  best  to  have  no 
concealments." 

"Frankness  is  your  one  weakness,  dear,"  my 
wife  saw  fit  to  reply. 

"  I  have  always  found  it  best,  in  society  as  in 
business,  my  love.  It  certainly  places  us  all  at 
our  ease  with  each  other." 

"  And  the  General  and  yourself  are  going  West 
to  look  at  land  ?  " 

"  Yes,  the  daughter  naturally  inherits  from  the 
mother,"  I  say,  in  continuance  of  profound  philo- 
sophical thought,  and  postponing,  with  a  ges- 
ture, my  wife  and  her  question,  "  the  power  of  the 
eyes  without  their  ferocity,  the  fullness  of"  soul 
without  its  violence.  It  is  the  father  in  her  which 
tempers  the  mother." 


22  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  You  told  me  that  General  Tliroop  realized 
George  Washington  to  you  for  the  first  time  in 
your  life.  And  when  I  was  so  pleased,  you  told 
me  that  Aaron  Burr  "  — 

"  A  New-Englander,"  I  interpose. 

"  —  had  said  AVashinixton  was  far  from  beini:: 
the  demi-god  people  thought." 

"  And,"  I  added,  "  that  Adams  had  told  a 
friend,  waving  his  hand,  after  dinner,  toward  a 
portrait  of  the  said  Father  of  his  Country,  '  that 
old  wooden  head  made  his  fortune  by  holding  his 
tongue  I  '  A  little  stolid,  not  swift  enough  for 
Wall  Street,  not  having  instinct  for  money  as  of  a 
rat-terrier  for  vermin.  It  was  not  on  carrion  the 
eacjles  of  those  davs  fed,  if  thev  were  slow  of  wins:. 
Behind  the  times  General  Throop  certainly  is,  ab- 
surd in  his  exasperation  at  the  new  era,  intensely 
prejudiced  —  I  do  believe,  however,"  I  abruptly 
added,  "  if  George  Washington  were  to  rise  from 
the  dead,  he  would  be  elected  president !  " 

I  could  have  proved  the  same,  had  not  an  old 
and  very  black  woman  from  General  Throop's  en- 
tered our  room  at  this  moment  with  a  courtesy  as 
deep  as  her  bright-colored  handkerchief  head-dress 
was  high.  She  brought  certain  patterns  of  milli- 
nery matters  for  Helen,  and  I  wish  I  had  let  her 
alone. 


MOSE  EVANS.  23 

"Well,  Aunt  :\[ary  Martha  Washington,"  I 
said,  —  for  Helen  had  thus  made  her  known  to 
me,  —  "  how  do  you  like  the  new  things,  aunty  ?  " 

"  They  're  not  the  things,  marster,  only  patterns 
to  make  'em  with,"  she  replies,  seriously,  for  she 
suspects  me. 

"  Oh,  I  mean  your  being  free  and  all  that  I  " 
And  I  wish,  as  I  say  it,  that  I  had  known  better. 

"  I  don't  like  them  at  all^  sir  !  "  she  says,  with 
a  grave  gladness  for  the  opportunity.  "  We  were 
chillern  of  body-sarvants  of  General  Washington. 
General  Theodore  Throop,  he  bought  us  at  the 
break-up  there.  All  my  life  I  've  sat  in  our  church, 
left-hand  gallery.  I  've  heard  a  thousand  sermons 
proving  we  was  chillern  of  Ham,  made  slaves  by 
our  Heavenly  Father  !  I  am  religious,  sir,  I  hope. 
He  permits  these  abolitionist  fool  folks  and  things, 
black  and  white  !  It 's  sinful  !  It  won't  be  for 
long"  — 

"  Never  mind,  aunty  ! "  Curious  the  command 
with  which  this  Southern  wife  of  mine  checks  her 
on  the  spot.  It  lay  in  certain  inflections  of  voice, 
the  heritage  in  the  blood  for  generations.  But  the 
black  woman  knows  I  am  a  Yankee,  as  marked  in 
her  coldness  to  me  as  she  is  deferential  to  Helen 
thereafter ! 


III. 

He  knew  that  a  New  "World  there  must  be,  and  sailed, 
The  Old  "World  forsaking,  he  sought  it,  nor  failed. 
But,  seeking  and  finding — in  this  was  his  gain,  — 
A  nobler  Columbus  than  sailed  out  of  Spain ! 

Not  three  weeks  after  this,  and  General  Theo- 
dore Throop  and  myself  were  making  together  our 
last  day's  ride  before  reaching  the  lands  I  was  en- 
deavoring to  exchange  with  him  for  his  Charleston 
propert3\  So  far  as  steamer  and  railway  could 
carry  us  on  our  journey  we  had  gone.  For  the 
last  week  the  pre-locomotive  horse  had  been  the 
only  conveyance  possible  to  the  dense  forests  and 
miry  roads  far  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Roads, 
horse,  cabins,  coarse  food,  shuck  beds,  people  as  of 
a  stone  age  prior  even  to  the  taming  of  horses,  — 
at  all  these  I  winced  in  sympathy  with  the  aver- 
sion, greater  still,  of  the  General.  Not  that  he  in- 
timated it  by  a  word.  A  hundredth  part  of  the 
annoyance  then  endured  occurring  before  the  war, 
or  even  now  in  Charleston,  would  have  kept  him 
an  Etna  in  perpetual  eruption.     I  could  not  but 


MOSE  EVANS.  25 

admire,  almost  venerate  and  love,  the  thorough 
gentleman  in  my  aged  companion.  A  removal 
was  essential  to  the  support  of  wife  and  daughter. 
Such  a  trip  would  have  been  the  business  of  Theo- 
dore the  son ;  possibly  woidd  have  been  unneces- 
sary had  Theodore  lived.  But  Theodore  was  now 
part  of  the  dust  —  how  wholly  in  vain  !  —  of  Sum- 
ter. The  General  rode  by  my  side,  feeble  but 
erect,  and  resolved  to  make  the  best  of  everything, 

—  an  old  soldier  upon  a  campaign,  a  cavalier  of 
Charles  and  Prince  Rupert  retreating  before  the 
Roundheads.  And,  riding  with  a  Roundhead,  too, 
the  old  General  clothed  himself  in  endurance  as  in 
his  necessary  coat  of  mail.  Silent  in  regard  to 
bodily  inconvenience,  the  negroes  swarming  about 
us  everywhere,  less,  with  all  his  kindness,  than  the 
other  insects  in  his  regard ;  the  war  and  its  results 
a  powder-magazine  between  us  from  which  we  both 
instinctively  held  back  the  torches  of  our  tongues, 

—  these  things  excepted,  my  companion  is  as  ge- 
nial as  when  in  his  parlor  at  home.  Only  some- 
how I  am  the  host  now  in  this  very  extensive  par- 
lor of  the  West,  whose  duty  it  is  to  entertain,  — 
as  hard  a  business  as  devolved  on  Virgil  playing 
the  host  to  Dante  through  Malbolge ;  for  we  rode 
upon  a  causeway  through  a  vast  swamp  on  either 


26  MOSE  EVANS. 

side,  every  pool  thereof  venomous  beneath  its 
green  scum  with  snakes  and  terrible  Avith  alliga- 
tors, nature  itself  turned  vicious  in  the  vines 
strangling,  anaconda-like,  the  decrepit  trees,  and 
leaping  through  the  air  upon  fresh  victims.  Xow 
and  tlien  the  crash  of  a  falling  tree  sounding 
through  the  slimy  silence,  decayed  trunks  falling, 
on  three  occasions,  across  our  very  road ! 

"But  some  ten  miles  more  to  Browns  town,"  I 
say  to  the  General  as  we  ride  soberly  along  through 
the  live-oaks  craped  in  moss. 

"  Fifty,  if  necessary,"  the  General  adds,  cheer- 
fully, "  although  I  am  a  little  fatigued." 

"  And  here  comes  some  one  who  can  tell  us,"  I 
add ;  for  during  the  last  twenty  miles  we  have  not 
been  so  certain  we  are  on  the  right  road.  I  turn 
to  speak  to  a  horseman  who  has  joined  us,  but  am, 
at  first,  too  dazzled  to  speak.  For,  instead  of  some 
rough  backwoodsman,  1  behold  a  Philadelphia  ex- 
quisite !  The  fool  is  yoiuig,  and  not  bad-looking 
in  his  waxed  moustache,  pomaded  hair,  broadcloth 
suit,  gauntleted  hands,  well-brushed  hat  a  little  to 
one  side.  The  instant  I  address  him  I  am,  in  im- 
agination, at  the  office  of  a  first-class  hotel  in  the 
East,  confronting  the  exceedingly  cool  clerk  thereof. 
And  to  him  am  I  the  dusty  and  tired  and  probably 


MOSE  EVANS.  27 

disreputable  and  insolvent  traveler,  tlie  nuisance 
inevitable  to  his  calling. 

"  I  intended  to  ask  about  the  road,"  I  say,  as 
soon  as  I  can  adjust  myself  to  the  occasion ;  "  but 
I  see  you  are  a  stranger  like  myself." 

"  Road  to  Brownstown  nine  miles."  And  our 
hotel  clerk  lifts  his  silver-handled  whip  to  pass  us, 
with  a  contemptuous  cut  on  the  flanks  of  his  very 
bright  bay,  then  consents  to  endure  us,  seeing  the 
road  is  so  lonely.  He  had  not  looked  at  my  com- 
panion. 

"  Are  you  acquainted  in  this  region,  sir  ?  "  the 
General  asks  after  some  silence ;  and  I  observe,  on 
the  instant,  that  our  new  arrival  recognizes  in  the 
General  a  millionaire,  pecuniary  or  social,  and 
modulates  his  entire  tone  and  bearing.  As  I  rein 
my  horse  in  from  between  the  two  that  they  may 
ride  together,  I  demand  of  myself :  Culture,  man- 
ner, social  position,  —  just  how  do  these  mold  the 
very  body  of  a  man  or  woman  ?  This  old  Gen- 
eral wears  them  like  the  purple  of  a  king,  bowed 
to  as  such,  no  man  plainer  in  person  or  attire. 
And  what  amount  of  dress  or  diamonds  could 
make  this  fop  other  than  hunself?  Yet  it  does 
speak  well  for  the  fellow  that  he  defers  to,  recog- 
nizes, unbosoms  himself  to  the  old  General.     We 


28  MOSE  EVANS. 

soon  have  his  historv.  He  was  born  and  has  lived 
all  his  life  in  Brownstown.  His  father  and  family 
live  there  now.  He  lives  there  himself,  a  regular 
physician.  He  is  back  but  a  few  months  from 
medical  lectures  in  Philadelphia.  This  whole  re- 
gion, sir,  is  a  miserable  wilderness,  fit  only  for  alli- 
gators and  negroes.  He  would  not  stay  in  it  an 
hour  if  he  could  help  it.  The  people  are  disgust- 
ing savages.  He  avenges  himself  "  by  dosing 
them,  sir,  dosing  them  most  deucedl}^ !  "  only  his 
language  is  more  highly  colored  as  he  warms  to 
the  companionship.  Incidentally,  as  cool  matter 
of  course,  he  refers  with  contempt  to  Christianity 
as  an  exploded  superstition,  a  species  of  Buddhism 
lingering  for  a  little  longer,  chiefly  in  such  be- 
nighted regions,  sir,  as  we  are  riding  through.  As 
we  journey  rather  slowly,  the  nine  miles  suffice  to 
reassure  us  as  to  the  tremendous  strides  of  science, 
sir ;  in  the  very  foremost  rank  of  which  marches 
Dr.  Alexis  Jones,  —  for  the  honor  of  his  name,  in- 
tensely illuminated  upon  a  cream-colored  card,  is 
also  intrusted  to  the  General,  who  has  slowly  to 
unbutton  many  wrappings  to  place  the  same  in  his 
pocket.  Here  a  sudden  turn  of  the  road  brings  us 
upon  a  horse  tied  to  a  sapling  a  little  off  the  edge 
of  the  highway  to  the  left ;  the  dismounted  rider, 


MOSE  EVANS.  29 

his  saddle-bags  at  his  feet,  just  turning  from  a 
huge  oak  as  we  come  upon  him  unawares,  owing 
to  the  mud  which  deadens  the  sound  of  our  horses' 
hoofs.  The  General  and  myself  see  nothing  be- 
yond this,  merely  bowing  as  we  ride  by.  Dr. 
Alexis  Jones  is  both  nearer  to  the  person  and 
sharper-sighted  ;  reins  up  a  moment,  then  rides 
on,  breaking  into  a  peal  of  insolent  laughter. 

"  Would  you  believe  it,  sir,"  he  explains  to  the 
General  at  last,  "  that  fellow  was  standing  by  that 
tree  shavins: !  See  the  lather  on  his  face  ?  Had 
hung  up  one  of  those  little  round  looking-glasses 
to  the  bark  by  his  knife  stuck  in.  Was  going  to 
black  his  boots,  brush  his  clothes  and  hair,  —  saw 
all  the  things  lying  on  his  saddle-bags.  Put  on  a 
clean  shirt,  too,  sure  as  you  live  !  "  But  Dr.  Jones 
is  far  more  profane  than  can  be  here  recorded. 
"  You  see  ?  He  is  fixing  up  before  he  goes  into 
Brownstown.  Like  a  circus,  wants  to  make  an 
awn-tray  1  Road  so  lonely,  never  thought  any- 
body would  happen  along,  see  ?  "  And  as  our 
companion  goes  off  into  another  fit  of  laughter.  I 
recall  a  certain  hurried  movement  and  shamefaced- 
ness  in  the  person  surprised,  who  seemed  from  my 
hasty  glance  to  be  a  gentleman  and  very  young. 
"  And  I  know  who  it  is  !  "  Dr.  Jones  bursts  out 


30  MOSE  EVANS. 

a  moment  after,  with  an  oath  and  a  downward  cut 
of  his  whip-hand  which  causes  his  horse  to  bound. 
"  The  preacher  !  —  See  the  black  clothes  and  the 
peculiar  face  ?  "  Dr.  Jones  is  evidently  speaking 
of  a  species  of  being  entirely  distmct  from,  exceed- 
ingly inferior  to,  himself. 

The  way  remaining  before  we  enter  Brownstown 
hardly  suffices  for  even  the  rapid  and  condensed 
information  imj^arted  in  this  connection.  There 
once  had  been  a  flourishing  church  in  the  little 
town.  No  •  regular  minister  had  lived  there  for 
years,  —  "  dying  out,  gentlemen,  the  whole  thing, 
even  here  as  everywhere !  "  Terribly  fallen  the 
membership  had  become ;  horse-racing,  gambling, 
hunting  on  Sundays  but  varieties  of  the  apostasy 
into  which  the  brotherhood  had  fallen,  the  very 
officers  of  the  church  participants  of  the  same. 
"  There  is  old  Squire  Robinson,  very  pillar  of  the 
ex-church,  worst  of  all.  Nice  time  this  preacher 
will  have  there  !  You  see,  that  will  be  his  home 
while  he  stays,  —  yes,  ivhile  I "  The  securing  of 
a  pastor  being  hardly  by  action  of  the  apostate 
church  itself,  said  pastor  more  probably  sent  by 
some  Board  of  the  denomination  outside,  "  this 
young  fellow  shaving  there"  is  to  be  the  pastor  of 
the  scattered  sheep. 


310 SE  EVANS.  31 

"  It  will  be  fun  alive,"  our  friend  adds,  "  to  see 
how  the  thing  will  work  !  And  the  idea  of  his 
actually  stopping  to  fix  up  before  meeting  his 
people,  brushing  up  to  go  to  Squire  Robinson's  !  " 
Our  friend  sees  a  degi-ee  of  amusement  in  the 
matter  which  we  cannot  appreciate  until  after- 
ward. 

"  There  's  about  only  one  Christian  —  never 
mind  the  women,  their  weakness,  poor  things  !  — 
in  this  Brownstown  that  has  stood  it  out.  New 
Hampshire  they  call  him,  queer  old  soul !  I  sup- 
pose he  came  from  there.  Postmaster.  Ofiice, 
you  know,  in  his  store.  Grim  as  death.  And  this, 
gentlemen,"  —  unspeakable  scorn  in  our  friend 
as  he  waves  his  hand  toward  a  neglected  grave- 
yard on  the  roadside  as  we  enter  the  street  of 
stracrsrlino:  cabins  which  constitutes  the  town,  — 
"  this  is  our  Laurel  Hill,  our  City  Cemetery. 
Added  dozens  to  its  denizens  myself  since  I  began 
my  practice,  —  practice,  you  observe,  practice  ■ 
And  this,"  halting  his  restless  horse  as  we  get 
fairly  into  the  ragged  hem,  so  to  speak,  of  the  vil- 
lage, and  regarding  the  same  with  disgust  beyond 
^ords,  —  "  this  is  our  Philadelphia  !  Our  Conti- 
nental Hotel  is  that  long,  low,  double,  villainous 
old   cabin   on   the   right,  with   the   tumble-down 


32  MOSE  EVANS. 

porch  in  front ;  Dick  Frazier —  sheriff  also  by  pro- 
fession, gambler  and  sot  by  occupation  —  hotel- 
keeper.  I  hope  to  see  you  again,  to  show  you  our 
churches,  libraries,  museums,  galleries  of  art,  Fair- 
mounts,  navy-yards.  If  you  survive  Dick  Fraz- 
ier !  " 

I  saw  that  the  very  horse  of  the  man  was  rest- 
less because  laden  with  such  an  ass,  glancing  at 
me  with  intelligent  eye  which  said,  "  Is  n't  he  a 
fool  ?  How  would  ^ou  like  to  carry  him  ?  "  The 
offensiveness  of  the  fellow  being  in  manner  more 
than  in  words. 

"  And  here,"  he  continued,  as  a  man  rode 
toward  us  from  the  village,  "  is  a  representative 
specimen  of  our  lovely  city,  —  a  genuine,  una- 
dulterated Brownstownian  in  the  original  package. 
Hold  on  a  moment,  Evans,"  he  added  as  the 
countryman  was  riding  by,  "  allow  me  to  make 
Mr.  Mose  Evans  known  to  you,  gentlemen  !  I 
will  merely  add,"  he  continued,  as  the  other 
raised  his  hat  to  us,  "  that  Mr.  Evans  is  "  —  and 
he  spelled  without  pronouncing  the  word  —  "a 
B-o-o-r.  An  I-g-n-o-r-a-n-t  man.  In  fact,  my 
friend  Mr.  Evans  is  a  f-o-o-1 !  "  There  was  for  a 
moment  a  perplexity  upon  the  wholesome  face  of 
the  person  in  question,  —  was  it  possible  he  could 


MOSE  EVANS,  33 

not  read  ?  —  coloring  and  looking  sharply  from  the 
rascal  to  myself,  followed  by  a  glance  of  such 
good-humored  but  absolute  contempt  for  Dr. 
Alexis  Jones  as  he  bowed  to  General  Throop  in 
silence  and  rode  on,  that  I  was  sorry  he  had  not 
shaken  hands  with  me.  I  could  have  kicked  the 
puppy  as,  with  a  wave  of  his  hat.  Dr.  Jones 
turned  down  a  side  street  and  rode  off  ;  but  I  was 
busy,  so  to  speak,  in  being  ashamed  to  look  the 
old  General  in  the  face,  the  aspect  of  the  town 
was  so  particularly  miserable.  Yet  I  had  told 
him  of  it  before  ;  and  I  recalled  places  up  the 
Ashley  and  Cooper,  not  many  miles  from  sacred 
Charleston  even,  as  uninviting.  But  the  brave 
old  soul  winced  nothincr  at  all.  He  was  on  a 
campaign,  and  rode  as  steadily  up  to  the  wretched 
old  tavern  as  if  it  had  been  a  battery  ! 

Good  climate,  rich  lands,  navigable  river  rolling 
lazy  with  excess  of  mud  in  sight,  —  yet  a  more 
miserable  town  could  not  exist.  I  would  cheer- 
fully describe  the  scenery  had  there  been  any. 
My  field  notes,  for  our  company,  of  Brown  County 
are,  "  Land  dead  level.  Sandier  soil,  post-oaks. 
Bottom  lands,  live-oak  ;  soil,  black,  waxy,  twenty 
feet  deep,  very  rich,  but  will  bake  and  crack  in 
summer.      Corduroy   roads.      Mud.      AUigators. 


34  MOSE  EVANS. 

Bayous  full  of  *  cotton  mouths,'  i.  e.  Tenomous 
moccasin  snakes.  Crops,  corn,  splendid  cotton. 
Register  A  1." 

Personally,  horror  and  loatliing  of  the  place 
seized  upon  me ;  suicide  even  to  sojourn  there  ! 
Brownstown  was,  in  fact,  the  very  corpse  of  a 
town  which  had  tumbled  down  and  died  in  the 
mud  in  a  drunken  fit !  It  may  be  a  singular  re- 
mark to  make,  yet  if  it  were  not  so  entirely  unad- 
visable  to  do  so,  I  would  like  dearly,  at  this  very 
juncture,  to  give  my  views  as  to  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  !  I  do  not  mean  the  rising  of  dead 
men  from  their  graves  unknown  ages  hence,  save, 
at  least,  so  far  as  the  doctrine  to  that  effect  is  in- 
cidentally estabHshed  by  another  thing.  Allow 
me  to  state,  as  clearly  as  I  can,  that  the  thing  I 
refer  to  is  the  capability  of  their  resurrection,  and 
complete  and  eternal  transformation  in  the  case  of 
persons  dead  and  buried  for  years  in  a  figurative, 
yet  good  Saxon  sense  of  the  word  !  I  am  greatly 
pressed  for  time  in  our  real-estate  transactions, 
could  find  no  leisure  or  disposition  to  enter  on  this 
narrative  were  it  not  for  the  remarkable  illustra- 
tion it  affords  in  reference  just  to  that !  See  if  I 
am  not  right ! 


IV. 

The  cotton  fields  are  grander  far 
Than  cotton  factories  ever  are  ! 
Our  bones  are  frail,  our  sinews  slack, 
The  grander  types  are  farther  back  ! 

"  I  SUPPOSE  I  do  have,"  I  wrote  the  week  of  our 
arrival  in  Brownstown  to  my  wife,  "  a  quick  sense 
of  the  hidicrous,  but  I  could  hardly  keep  from 
laufjhino^  outrio:ht  that  first  morninsj  at  breakfast, 
the  idea  of  our  George  Washington  being  so  ter- 
ribly bitten  of  vermin  !  Not  that  he  spoke  of  it, 
but  I  knew  his  experience  during  the  night  from 
my  own.  Wherein  does  the  nobility  of  this  Gen- 
eral Throop  consist,  that  you  reject  any  com- 
parison of  him  to  Uncle  Toby,  say,  or  to  Mr. 
Pickwick,  on  the  instant  ?  The  wearying  jour- 
ney, coarse  food,  miserable  nights,  with  all  the 
tremendous  work  of  creating  a  new  Carolina  for 
himself  out  in  these  Western  wilds,  is  enough  to 
daunt  a  man  thirty  years  younger  ;  and  the  old 
General  has  lost  twenty  pounds  by  the  scales  in 
'  old  New  Hampshire's  store,'  is  pale,  tremulous, 


36  MOSE  EVANS. 

filmost  tottering,  but  uncomplaining  and  a  perfect 
gentleman,  —  there  is  no  other  word  ;  command- 
ing, by  his  very  aspect,  the  hats  off  the  heads  and 
the  loose  talk  off  the  tongues  of  even  the  '  char- 
acters '  of  Brownstown  !  It  is  what  Falstaff  said 
of  himself  with  a  variation  ;  the  General  is  not 
only  a  gentleman  himself,  but  the  cause  of  gentle- 
manliness  in  others  !  We  rode  out  to  see  the  land 
the  General  is  exchanging  his  Charleston  property 
for  the  day  after  our  arrival,  three  miles  from 
Brownstown,  and  upon  the  bank  of  the  river. 
We  stayed  all  night,  by  the  by,  at  the  cabin,  near 
b}^,  of  a  Mrs.  Evans,  a  red-faced  virago,  not  worse, 
I  dare  say,  than  Queen  Bess.  The  only  member 
of  her  family  is  her  grown  son,  Ike  Evans,  or 
Tom,  or  Bob,  I  have  forgotten  his  name.  He  is 
our  guide  among  these  terrible  woods,  —  a  sort  of 
mute,  inglorious  Milton  ;  for  you  have  read  of  the 
Oxford  students  who  came  upon  that  poet,  when  a 
boy,  lying  asleep  in  the  summer  woods  in  his 
yellow  hair,  and  thought  it  was  Pan.  I  will  tell 
you  more  about  this  Romulus  and  his  she-wolf  of 
a  mother,  if  I  do  not  forget  it. 

"  When,  after  riding  over  a  few  hundred  acres 
of  lands,  rich  as  cream,  we  lighted  off  our  horses 
and  had  our  dinner  upon  a  bluff  of  live-oaks  over- 


MOSE  EVANS.  37 

hanging  the  stream,  I  saw  in  his  manner  that  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  —  the  General  —  to  close 
the  bargain.  One  or  two  steamboats  passed,  as 
we  sat,  hiden  to  the  water's  edge  with  cotton ;  but 
I  think  it  was  a  remark  made  at  breakfast  by  a 
certain  Odd  Archer  which  went  even  further  to 
settle  the  matter.  Odd  is,  as  he  himself  told  us, 
'  a  jack-leg  lawyer,'  the  wild  son  of  a  distinguished 
minister  of  Georgia,  a  prodigal  son  heartily  enjoy- 
ing himself  among  the  swine,  and  not  having 
the  least  intention  of  coming  to  himself.  '  For 
heaven's  sake.  General  Throop,'  he  said,  '  establish 
yourself  here,  and  give  existence  and  tone  to 
society ! '  Dirty,  drunken,  worthless  Odd  Archer ! 
and  yet,  the  indescribable  freemasonry  of  gentle- 
men between  the  General  and  the  unprincipled 
scamp  the  moment  they  meet !  Queer  people, 
you  Southerners,  Helen  !  " 

Thus  far,  and  a  good  deal  more,  to  my  wife, 
awaiting  results  in  Charleston. 

The  fact  is,  the  General  and  myself  are  the  sen- 
sation of  the  year  in  Brownstown.  He  is,  in  gos- 
sip there  which  I  could  not  help  overhearing, 
"  the  distinguished  General  Theodore  Throop  of 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  here  to  buy  and  make 
his  home  among  us,  sir  !  "     I  am,  "  Oh,  a  Yankee, 


38  MOSE  EVANS. 

anybody  can  see  that ;  but  I  am  told,  gentlemen, 
a  millionnaire,  president  of  a  new  railroad  to  run 
through  Brownstown  to  the  Pacific  !  Besides,  he 
is  in  company  with  General  Theodore  Throop  ! " 
I  must  confess  I  did  hear  a  certain  Job  Peters 
reject  this  statement  of  Odd  Archer,  Esq.,  with 
a  certain  "  Er-r-r-r ! "  like  the  strong  purring 
of  a  contemptuous  cat,  ending  in  an  unwritable 
"Ah-h-h,  yah  —  yes  !  May  be  so  !  A  dapper  lit- 
tle sand-peep  of  a  New-Englander  !  "  For  General 
Throop  is  a  much  larger  and  more  imposing  pres- 
ence, I  will  admit.  I  did  not  put  Peters  in  my 
letters  to  mv  wife,  but  /do  not  mind  such  thincfs. 
As  to  his  remark  in  continuation,  —  "  Yes,  and  he 
has  this  big  General  from  Carolina  with  him  as 
protection,  darsn't  come  by  himself  !  "  —  of  course, 
that  is  not  worth  denying.  For  I  could  not  help 
overhearing  Brownstown,  as  I  sat  writing  in  the 
back  room  of  —  I  cannot  see  the  use  of  writingr 
out  his  real  name,  when  every  person  knows  it  is 
old  New  Hampshire  whom  I  refer  to,  jDOstmaster, 
and  proprietor  of  the  one  store  in  Brownstown,  a 
store  "  bound  to  have  "  for  sale  everything  any 
and  every  body  could  want,  with  extraordinary  va- 
riety of  customers,  —  a  little  weazen  old  man  in 
a  snuff-colored  suit,  small  eyes  that  looked  perfect 


MOSE  EVANS.  39 

experience  of  men,  large  ears  with  very  red  tips  ; 
though  a  very  miinimy  of  a  man,  yet  Brownstown 
shows  well  that  he  is  industrious  as  a  beaver, 
shrewd  as  a  fox,  cool  as  a  fish,  fearless  as  a  lion. 

"  Old  New  Hampshire  !  Now,  that  man  !  "  — 
Odd  Archer,  the  jack-leg  laAvyer,  explains  to  me 
during  our  stay,  on  the  front  porcli  of  our  hotel 
this  cool  November  noon,  —  "  Oh,  you  have  seen 
him  !  Blue  steel !  Why,  sir,  I  've  seen  our  boys 
go  in  there  during  the  war  !  You  see  they  had  no 
pay  for  a  year,  —  Confederate  money  at  that,  — 
no  clothes,  feet  on  the  ground,  half  starved.  Go 
in  his  store,  you  see !  When  a  fellow  asked  to 
look  at  a  pair  of  boots,  he  always  held  on  to  one 
while  the  fellow  was  looking  at  the  other.  '  You 
let  go ! '  fellow  said  to  him  one  day,  the  counter 
between  them,  you  see.  '  Why,  you  can  look  at  it 
just  as  well,'  he  said.  Because,  you  see,  the  boys 
had  helped  themselves  out  of  stores  in  every  other 
town.  '  You  let  go ! '  fellow  said,  aiming  his  re- 
volver exactly  between  the  old  man's  eyes  across 
the  counter.  And  he  never  even  winked,  —  old 
New  Hampshire,  —  holding  on  to  the  boot.  AVell, 
the  fellow  fired,  just  to  scare  him,  missing  his  left 
ear  by  an  inch  ;  held  on  none  the  less  ;  there  's  the 
hole  made  by  the  bullet  now  I     I  saw  one  fellow 


40  MOSE  EVANS. 

Tvalk  in  there  one  Saturday,  —  I  suppose  the  fel- 
low's wife  was  almost  naked  at  home,  —  draw  his 
knife  and  hold  it  between  his  teeth  while  he  just 
took  up  an  armful  of  bolts  of  calico  piled  on  the 
counter,  and  turn  and  walk  out.  Sir,  that  old 
man  was  over  that  counter  and  after  him  !  Like 
a  hornet.  Pulled  away  this  bolt,  that  bolt,  an- 
other bolt,  fellow  walking  fast  as  he  could  toward 
his  piebald  mare  hitched  to  a  tree.  The  fellow 
went  home  to  his  wife  without  one  yard ;  old  New 
Hampshire  came  in,  piled  u^d  the  calico  again, 
ready  for  the  next  customer  !  A  New-Englander, 
I  know,"  apologetically,  "  but  you  can't  scare 
him  !  "  Although  I  have  left  out  the  oaths  of  the 
speaker,  oaths  uttered  with  relish  and  moral  mean- 
ing ! 

You  understand  how  and  why  Odd  Archer, 
Esq.,  is  the  most  purely  wicked  of  all  the  men  you 
meet  when  you  know  of  his  parentage,  —  Satan 
himself,  because  fallen  forever  from  heaven !  If 
there  is  a  pecuharly  disreputable  thing  in  such  a 
man,  it  is  the  singular  ease  and  suddenness  with 
which  you  find  yourself  an  intimate  friend  in  his 
very  familiar  converse  with  you  on  the  part  of  the 
same,  pulhng  you  on  and  off  like  an  old  glove  ! 
And  that  disreputable  scoundrel  would  talk  about 


MOSE  EVANS.  41 

his  father,  the  distinguished  minister,  his  wonder- 
ful success  in  pastorate  and  revivals,  his  long-suf- 
fering efforts  to  reclaim  his  prodigal.  "  No,  sir  !  " 
he  would  add,  "  not  a  bit  of  it.  I  am  a  gone  case, 
past  praying  for !  "  I  am  satisfied  there  is  no 
crime  known  to  men  the  fellow  would  not  have 
committed  with  zest  had  it  come  in  his  way,  greed 
of  the  very  wickedness  involved  for  the  very  wick- 
edness' sake.  Singular  world,  ours  !  Now  Gen- 
eral Throop  was  as  pure  a  knight  as  Sir  Galahad, 
and  how  there  could  be  that  perfect  understand- 
ing between  the  two,  as  of  born  gentlemen  among 
peasants,  is  a  matter  which  puzzles  me  as  much 
to-day  as  ever. 

As  to  New  Hampsliire,  the  postmaster,  I  saw  he 
was  hardened  to  things  as  are  the  rocks  of  his  own 
coast  to  winter  and  the  wash  of  wild  waves.  Sit- 
ting in  his  back  room,  I  often  paused  from  my 
writing  at  the  rickety  black  desk,  to  listen  to  what 
said  wild  waves  were  saying  while  the  mail  was 
being  opened,  before,  and  after ;  or  while  a  heavy 
ram  held  the  assembled  "  crowd "  from  going 
home.  Socially,  politically,  morally,  irreligiously, 
a  viler  ton-ent  of  talk,  especially  when  Odd  Archer 
is  present,  speaker,  prompter,  applauder,  fouls  no 
kennel  on  earth.     Now,  as  I  came  to  know,  there 


42  MOSE  EVANS. 

remains  in  New  England  no  more  sincerely  Chris- 
tian man  than  is  this  old  gentleman,  —  the  very 
life  and  soul  and  leader  and  purse  afterward  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Parkinson's  church ;  for  it  was  the  Rev. 
]\Ir.  Parkinson  himself,  fresh  from  his  college, 
whom  we  had  come  upon  at  his  roadside  toilet.  I 
suppose  the  old  postmaster  had,  by  long  practice, 
learned  to  abstract  himself  from  the  living  mire 
around  him  morally,  as  Archimedes  did  philosoph- 
ically from  the  storming  —  himself  the  centre  of 
the  same  —  of  Sj^acuse.  My  theory  is,  he  cre- 
ated a  New  England  for  himself,  of  the  space  be- 
hind his  counter  and  of  the  small  room  back  of 
the  store  in  which  I  wrote,  and  in  which  he  slept 
and  had  his  meals;  constructed  a  New  England 
out  of  himself  as  he  sorted  letters,  made  entries 
on  his  journal,  closed  bargains,  allowing  all  the 
hatred  of  the  government,  the  profanity  and  ob- 
scenity, to  dash  unfelt,  unheard,  upon  the  granite 
coast  of  his  weather-beaten  exterior.  The  Puri- 
tan aroma  was  to  him  as  its  Cuban  flavor  to  best 
cigars,  as  its  peculiar  excellence  to  choicest  brands 
of  wine,  —  the  deeper  and  stronger  in  virtue  of 
long  and  close  keeping.  He  had  been  away  from 
home  so  many  years,  a  bewildered  Rip  Van  Win- 
kle he  would  have  found  liimself,  had  he  revisited 


MOSE  EVANS.  43 

the  scenes  of  lils  youth.  I  said  to  him  one  day,  I 
could  not  help  it,  "  ]\Iy  dear  sir,  you  have  come 
not  to  mind  all  this  ridicule  of  religion  by  these 
reckless  Brown  County  loafers,  as  natural  to  you 
from  them  as  cards,  whisky,  oaths,  obscenity,  the 
crack  of  revolvers.  Suppose  you  are  East,  and 
hear  a  perfectly  polished  but  far  deadlier  assault 
upon  your  Christianity  by  ministers  of  the  gosj^el 
from  the  pulpit  on  Sunday,  hailed  with  glee  as 
great  by  crowds  there  too.  Heh  ?  Just  suppose  ? 
You  cannot  suppose  ?  "Well,  I  '11  say  nothing 
about  the  eloquent  and  overwhelming  disproving 
there,  by  the  very  Rulers  of  the  Synagogue,  of 
everything  you  hold  dear.  But  it  is  a  good  thing 
you  landed  so  long  ago  from  your  iMayfiower  upon 
this  remoter  West !  " 

Change  the  figure  and  say  this  postmaster  flowed 
hither  as  from  the  molten  furnace  of  his  Hamp- 
shire home ;  in  that  case  he  certainly  has  hardened 
into  cold  steel  among  these  molding  sands !  If 
he  ever  relaxes  the  corner  of  mouth,  even,  or  of 
eye,  it  is,  at  least,  no  man  that  knows  it.  Harry 
Peters  himself  in  his  jolliest  story  is  as  much  to 
him,  and  no  more,  than  yonder  crow  cawing  from 
the  dead  top  of  that  girdled  post-oak  over  the 
way,  in  Dick  Frazier's  field,  near  the  tavern.    For 

3 


44  MOSE  EVANS. 

Harry  is  tlie  joker  of  all  the  world  lying  around 
Brownstown,  —  the  Sir  Charles  Sedley,  the  Rev. 
Sydney  Smith,  the  Grimaldi,  and  the  Dickens  of 
Bro^vn  County.  Brown  County?  Harry  was 
elected  captain  during  the  war,  member  of  the 
Legislature  since,  simply  as  being  the  most  popu- 
lar man  known,  on  account  of  his  fun !  Joking 
and  laughing  is  nature  to  Harry,  as  much  as  diges- 
tion and  sleep.  A  miserable  merry-making  it 
would  be  considered  if  Harry  Peters  was  not  there. 
The  simple  announcement  on  such  occasions  of 
"  Oh,  yonder  comes  Harry  Peters  ! "  by  any  one 
on  porch  or  at  window,  sent  a  laugh  over  every 
face  in  advance.  You  said,  the  next  time  you 
met  him  after  introduction,  "  Why,  how  are  you, 
Harry  ?  "  and  from  your  heart,  with  warm  grasp 
of  hand,  as  if  you  had  known  him  and  he  you 
from  birth  in  the  same  village.  I  noticed  it  at 
New  Hampshire's  store,  that  dull,  drear^'-  down- 
pour of  a  fall  day  I  was  there.  A  duller,  drearier, 
dirtier  set  than  sat  on  nail-kegs  and  tobacco-boxes 
that  hour,  making  the  very  weather  dirtier,  I  never 
saw.  Suddenly,  some  one  said  in  joyful  accents, 
"  Hi,  HaiTy  !  "  And  the  entrance  of  that  lame, 
pale-faced,  stoop-shouldered,  jeans-clad  farmer,  ex- 
planter,  was  like  a  blast  of  oxygen  from  a  blow- 
pipe, every  man  wide  awake,  laughhig  tilready  ' 


MOSE  EVANS.  45 

"  You  never  drink,  Harry,"  I  heard  Odd  Archer 
say,  with  many  an  oath,  "  because  you  never  need 
it." 

"  Yes,  private  distillery  in  here,  large  supply  of 
best  Bourbon  always  on  hand !  "  replies  Harry, 
his  palm  on  his  bosom.  Nothing  in  the  words,  — 
mere  champagne  froth  ;  not  worth  writing,  any- 
thing he  said ;  tone  and  manner  and  meaning  all, 
anci  as  impossible  to  define  as  any  other  magnet- 
ism. I  know  a  powerful  preacher  in  New  York, 
whose  hairs  stand  erect  around  his  capacious  head, 
on  exactly  the  same  principle  as  with  the  dolls 
having  flowing  locks  which  are  insulated  for  that 
purpose  J  it  is  excess  of  electricity  in  the  one  case 
as  in  the  other  !  And  Harry  Peters  is  magnetic, 
electric,  tis  the  torpedo-eel  is,  fun  and  laughter  the 
special  ppecies  of  his  fluid  I  Nothing  foul  or  pro- 
fane, his  fun  is  simple  force  of  nature,  no  more 
immoral  or  moral  than  lightning  ! 

Rev.  Mr.  Parkinson  having  come,  we  have 
church  on  Sundays  thereafter.  When  the  post- 
master lifted  the  lid  of  his  old  desk,  as  I  sat  at  it 
in  the  back  room,  to  get  me  letter-paper,  I  caught 
a  glimpse  of  a  little,  worn,  old  book  therein.  How 
well  I  know  what  9/ou  are  !  I  said  to  myself  on  the 
instant.    ^Mainspring,  disinfectant,  companion,  sole 


46  MOSE  EVAXS. 

and  sufficient,  in  this  island  among  very  foul  wa- 
ters. Judasa,  New  England,  heaven.  All  this  old 
soul  loves  of  past,  future,  present !  Merel}^  a  little 
black  book  ?  Not  a  prophet  or  apostle,  or  least 
Mary  or  leper  in  you,  but  is  more  of  a  li^dng  asso- 
ciate to  this  postmaster  than  all  Brown  County 
can  afford !  I  wondered  if,  of  Sundays  and  of 
nights  and  of  mornings  before  his  store  is  opened, 
my  friend  did  not  succeed  in  making  out  of  that 
dismal  surrounding  an  actual  New  England  for 
himself,  this  living  book  assisting.  Wondered  if 
he  had  a  turkey  there  to  himself  Thanksgivings. 
We  won't  mention  Antaeus,  if  you  please,  strength- 
ened by  touch  of  his  mother  earth  :  certainly  the 
reviving  force  is  from  quite  another  direction  in 
this  case.  But  this  old  soul's  religion  must  be,  if 
figures  may  be  multiplied,  of  a  right  royal  Tyrian 
dje  indeed,  which  can  strike  its  purple  so  into  the 
very  fabric  of  the  man.  If  some  people  are  right, 
will  it  not  be  a  sad  stain  in  him  eternally  ?  But 
then,  you  see,  there  is  no  Eternit}^ !  What  is  cli- 
mate and  soil  at  last  ?  South  Carolina,  for  in- 
stance, is  nothing  whatever,  except  so  far  as  it  is 
—  General  Theodore  Throop  !  That  State  w^ill 
yet  be  another  individual  altogether  when  we  once 
get  at  that  bed  of  marl  there  six  hundred  feet  deep 


MOSE  EVANS.  47 

and  liundrecls  of  miles  long.  Up  to  date  Carolina 
is  General  Theodore  Throop  or  nothing.  I  suc- 
ceed the  General  in  Charleston  ;  am,  I  suppose, 
the  typical  South  Carohnian  of  the  future.  I  do 
wonder  if,  in  the  end,  the  entire  Republic  is  to  be 
only  one  immense  New  England.  I  cannot  say  I 
hope  so,  —  in  every  sense,  I  mean. 

As  I  came  out  of  the  post-oflBce,  on  my  way 
back  to  Dick  Frazier's  and  General  Throop  there, 
I  stopped  to  shake  hands  with  young  Evans.  I 
have  ah-eady  alluded,  in  my  letter  to  my  wife,  to 
a  sojourn  with  the  General  at  his  cabin  near  our 
lands.  Allow  me  to  speak  more  particularly  here 
of  the  same ;  permit  me,  in  fact,  to  make  a  new 
chapter  of  it,  going  back,  therefore,  a  few  days. 


V. 

Had  the  babe  been  housed  within, 
Eomulus  had  never  been  ! 
Had  he  sucked  his  mother's  breast, 
Rome  had  never  reared  its  crest ! 
From  between  the  she-wolf's  paws 
He  gave  the  world  its  master's  laws ! 

General  Theodore  ThUoop  differed  from 
me  as,  I  suppose,  the  South  has  differed,  since  the 
world  was  created,  from  the  North ;  he  was  too 
slow,  as  I  was  possibly  too  fast.  I  dare  say  the 
General's  established  position  for  half  a  century  in 
the  highest  social  circle  of  Charleston,  had  been 
the  molding  influence  in  virtue  of  which  the  old 
gentleman  was  such  a  Louis  Le  Grand  in  tones 
and  bearing,  and  stately  but  gracious  inertia,  even . 
He  rarely  alluded  to  the  subject,  but,  for  him, 
there  was  no  future  ;  why  should  he  hurry  him- 
self ?  My  wife  says  I  cannot  live  except  when  in 
motion,  and  am  happiest  when  most  driven,  and  it 
did  try  me  sorely  to  wait  for  General  Throop ;  or 
would  have  tried  me  had  not  my  Southern  wife 
accustomed  me  so  long  to  waiting  for  her,  never 


MOSE  EVANS.  49 

up  to  the  instant,  I  regret  to  record  it  of  her,  since 
the  ceremony  of  our  marriage,  when  she  kept  ua 
all  waiting  full  twenty  minutes  behind  time.     As 
we    journeyed    together,    did    business    to    large 
amounts  together,  I  knew  all  along  his  determina- 
tions in  matters,  days  before  he  had  reached  them 
himself ;  had  said  over  and  over  to  myself  all  he 
was  slowly  going  to  say  upon  a  subject  a  dozen 
times  before  he  had  spoken.     Yet  I  enjoyed  the 
venerable  gentleman  even  while  I  inwardly  fussed 
at  his  ponderous  pcopriety,  and  outran  exceedingly 
his  cultured  slowness.     There  are  as  true  gentle- 
men  in   Boston   as  the   General,  but  he  was  of 
another  variety  altogether:    a   huge  water-melon 
ripening  asleep  in  the  sun,  as  compared  with  a 
seckel  pear,  small  but  closely  buttoned  up  to  the 
chin  in  its  perfect-fitting  suit  of  brown  and  red: 
say,  rather,  and  be  done  with  it,  a  pine-apple  con- 
trasted with  a  pippin,  —  but  a  pippin  as  from  the 
Garden  of  the  Hesperides,  of  rarest  flavor  as  well 
as  of  royal  size. 

What  I  wanted  to  say,  when  I  began  all  this, 
was,  that  we  two  found  it  impossible  to  make  our 
trip  between  Dick  Frazier'*s  tavern  in  Brownstown, 
and  the  General's  proposed  place  down  the  river, 
in  one  day ;  the  General  being  altogether  too  de- 


60  HOSE  EVANS. 

liberate  for  that  in  waking,  dressing,  breakfasting, 
riding,  looking  over  the  land,  conversing  about  its 
varied  localities  for  corn  and  cotton,  house  and 
gin ;  and  this  explains  how  we  came  to  ride  one 
afternoon  up  to  the  cabin  of  Mose  Evans,  whose 
lands  "joined  on"  ours,  to  stay,  as  Mose  had 
assured  us  we  could,  all  night.  Now  ten  million 
people  of  our  population,  far  from  the  worst  of  said 
population,  live  in  just  such  cabins.  AVe  ride  up 
to  a  rough  paling  fence,  well  whitewashed,  as  are 
the  cabin  and  the  hen-coops,  and  the  trunk  of 
every  forest  and  fruit  tree  in  the  inclosure,  the 
spotless  geese  wearing  the  same  livery,  as  they 
string  out  of  the  front  gate  in  the  morning,  and 
back  in  the  evening,  from  the  river  flowing  im- 
mediately before  the  house.  Mrs.  Evans  had  been 
described  to  us  as  being  a  devoted  mother,  a  model 
housewife  in  point  of  neatness,  but,  alas,  a  woman 
of  temper  most  terrible  ;  our  many  informants  m- 
sisting  specially  upon  this  last  feature  of  her  char- 
acter. I  called  General  Throop's  attention,  as  we 
hallooed  from  our  saddles  and  waited  for  a  reply, 
before  dismounting,  to  the  row  of  reddened  bricks 
from  the  gate  on  either  side  of  the  pebbled  walk 
to  the  porch  ;  to  the  brilliant  tin  pans  sunning 
upon  thoroughly  scrubbed  shelves  around  the  well 


MOSE  EVANS.  61 

in  the  yard,  the  long  pole  thereof,  as  also  oaken 
bucket,  seeming  just  from  the  same  process.     At 
this   moment   Mrs.  Evans   appeared,  knitting   in 
hand,  upon  the  porch,  and,  with  eyes  shaded  from 
the  setting  sun  by  the  stocking  held  in  her  hand, 
bade  us  "  light."     It  was  so  very  easy,  the  way  in 
which    General   Throop   conquered    our   dreaded 
hostess   upon    her   outpost   and   on   the   instant  I 
Before  he  was  half-way  up  the  walk  he  had  taken 
off  his.  hat.     It  v/as  natural  to  him;  it  was  not 
natural  to  me  following  him,  and  I  did  not  do  it. 
Had  she  been  the  wife  of  Washington,  he  could  not 
have  been,  and  from  sheer  nature,  more  respect- 
ful.    "•  Mrs.  Evans,  I  presume  ?  "  hat  in  hand  and 
with  a  grave  inclination  of  his  white  head.     And 
when,  in  manner  adapted   to   his  own,  she   had 
bidden   us   enter  —  "I   am  ashamed,  madam,  to 
step   with   such  boots  upon   your   porch !  "     For 
steps  of  stone,  pine  floor,  rude  posts  and  railing  of 
the  porch,  doors  opening  upon  it  from  the  cabin, 
the  very  pegs  in  the  whitewashed  logs  from  which 
bags  of  dried  seeds  were  hung,  all  were  of  almost 
painful  cleanness,  the  hide-bottom  chairs  pure  and 
white   from  incessant  soap  and  sand.     After  our 
weeks  upon  the  road  and  at  Dick  Frazier's,  the 
snowy  towels  and  tablecloth,  especially  the  coarse 


52  MOSE  EVANS. 

but  very  clean  sheets  and  pillow  cases  at  niglit, 
were  luxuries  to  General  Throop  I  was  glad  of. 
To  me  Mrs.  Evans  was  simply  a  tall,  well-looking, 
neatly  dressed  female  who  had  worried  her  hus- 
band to  death,  and  who  might,  unless  Odd  Archer 
Und  Brownstown  had  lied  to  me,  drive  us  from 
under  her  roof  any  moment  by  her  termagant 
tongue.  People  had  told  the  General  the  same, 
but,  like  all  Southern  gentlemen,  he  instmctively 
invested  every  white  woman  with  certain  chivalnc 
attributes  of  sister,  daughter,  wife,  mother,  ele- 
vating her  into  an  ideal  being  whom  they  call 
Woman,  a  creation,  like  Dulcinea  del  Toboso, 
having  no  existence  outside  imagination.  In  the 
most  natural  manner,  all  the  time  of  our  acquaint 
ance.  General  Throop  idealized  Airs.  Evans,  and 
she  was  idealized ;  that  is,  he  assumed  and  she 
accepted  and  acted  upon  the  assumption,  that  she 
was  Woman. 

Mose  Evans  observed  it,  at  table,  for  I  can  read 
men.,  though  he  was  merely  a  big  and  very  hand- 
some and  bearded  boy.  Had  General  Throop  said 
much  about  her  admirable  cookery,  it  would  have 
ruined  all ;  only  a  sincere  word  or  two,  his  man- 
ner, his  evident  enjoyment  of  his  meals,  did  every- 
thing.   "  He  makes  more  work  than  all  the  rest  of 


MOSE  EVANS.  »53 

the  lioiisckecping,"  the  mother  said  of  her  son  in 
the  course  of  conversation,  "  always  in  the  fields 
with  the  hands,  hunting  and  the  like,  he  cannot 
help  muddying  and   tearing  his  things,  I  know. 
But  he  does  not  haunt  the  town,  never  enters  a 
doggery,   doesn't  know   a   card,  thank  Heaven  I 
and,  then,  I  will   not  have  any  woman  to  help 
me  !  "     This  last  for  reasons  with  reference  to  her 
son,  too,  as  I  well  knew.     I  wonder  if  people  like 
General  Throop  do  really  stop  at  and  sleep  upon 
the  surface  of  things  as  they  seem  to.     "  In  these 
days  of  the  overthrow  of  everything,"  the  General 
remarked,  amazingly  brightened  up  after  a  very 
substantial   supper  upon  coffee,  venison,  and  the 
perfection  of  corn  bread  and  butter,  "  my  inten- 
tion, ]\Irs.  Evans,  is  to  adopt  the  very  life  you  are 
now  leading.     That  is,  if   I  close  with  Mr.  An 
derson  here."     The  General  and  myself  had  really 
and  finally  reached  certainty  about  that,  only  his 
outer  person,  so  to  speak,  had  not  yet  arrived.    "  I 
never  talk  pohtics,"  the  General  added.     "  There 
are,  in  fact,  no  politics  to  talk.     Victorious  force 
has  destroyed  all  I  hold  worth  living  for.     We 
have  entered,  as  did  Greece  and  Rome,  upon  tne 
era  of  miUtary  despotism  and  all  corruption.     The 
only  glory   is  of  gold,  and   that   is   evanescent ! 


54  MOSE  EVANS. 

Excuse  me.  ^Ve  may,  in  case  I  should  close  with 
Mr.  Anderson,  be  neighbors.  Mrs.  Throop  and 
my  daughter  Agnes.  My  only  son,  Theodore 
Throop,  gave  his  life,  at  Sumter,  for  his  country, 
but  I  did  not  desire  to  speak  of  that.  We  bury 
ourselves  in  these  primeval  woods  purposely,  the 
world  forgetting,  by  the  world  forgot.  I  hke  your 
son,  madam,"  for  that  individual  had  gone  to  look 
to  our  horses.  "  I  pride  myself,  Mrs.  Evans,  upon 
being  a  judge  of  character,  and  I  am  free  to  say, 
he  seems  to  me  to  be  a  thorouglily  manly  and 
sensible  person,  as  he  certainly  is  most  prepossess- 
ing in  his  outer  man.  You  should  be,  and  doubt- 
less are,  very  proud  of  him,  madam  !  " 

Now,  I  knew  Evans  to  be  all  of  this  and  more, 
but  I  could  not  have  kept  it  from  seeming  flattery 
if  I  had  said  it.  The  bearing  of  the  stately  old 
soul  gave  such  weight  to  all  his  remarks. 

"  He  is  all  I  have  ! "  was  her  only  reply,  and 
she  was  halted,  I  saw,  at  the  mention  of  that 
daughter  !  —  with  reference  to  any  possible  results 
concerning  her  son,  halted,  like  a  female  panther 
guarding  her  cub.  And  I  began  to  understand 
this  Xantippe,  by  help  of  what  I  had  heard, 
through  and  through !  —  But  I  could  have  laughed 
aloud.    Miss  Agnes  Throop  !    The  flower  and  per- 


MOSE  EVANS.  55 

fection  of  Charleston  culture  ;  the  belle  of  all  its 
beauties  by  their  own  confession.  Agnes  Throop 
and  this  handsome  boor ;  Beauty  and  the  Beast ; 
heaven  and  earth  are  not  more  removed.  "  You 
«eem  to  be  pleased  at  something,  sir  ?  "  It  was 
the  panther  again,  with  her  head  ever  so  little 
upon  one  side,  a  gleam  of  danger  in  her  eyes,  and 
quicker  knitting  I 

HoAV  people  do  have  to  steer  in  the  rapids  of 
life,  barely  grazing  the  rocks  !  And  the  steering 
is  sometimes  very  like  lying. 

"  Ah,  General,"  I  readily  exclaimed,  "  Mrs.  Ev- 
ans has  her  household  duties.  Were  you  to  se- 
clude yourself  from  all  the  outer  world,  as  you 
threaten,  you  would  have  to  take  to  books  as  some 
persons  take  to  drinking  !  "  And,  to  make  my 
blunder  worse,  I  glanced  around  as  I  said  it. 

"  Not  one  !  Except  an  old  Bible,  not  one  book 
or  paper  in  the  house  !  "  Mrs.  Evans  said  it  out, 
and  I  to  myself  in  the  same  instant.  I  began  to 
take  deeper  interest  in  her  !.  It  was  not  at  all  to 
me,  it  was  in  subjection  to  the  inquiring  yet  per- 
fectly respectful  "  Ah  ?  "  of  General  Throop,  that 
!Mrs.  Evans  gave  us  her  version  of  their  family 
history.  Not  at  once.  Doubtless  she  brooded  day 
and  night  over  her  story,  and  it  forced  its  way  out 


66  MOSE  EVANS. 

by  a  sort  of  fermentation  diu'ing  our  after  ac- 
quaintance. But  it  was  to  my  companion  slie 
always  addressed  lierseK,  and  to  him  exclusively. 
He  seemed,  in  some  way,  to  liave  brought  back  a 
former  life,  as  of  ages  ago,  to  her  mind.  One  day, 
during  our  many  calls  at  her  cabin,  she  showed  us 
her  husband's  daguerreotype.  I  had  a  suspicion 
that  it  had  lain  unopened  in  the  bottom  of  some 
trunk  until  very  lately. 

"  He  was  evidently,  madam,  a  gentleman  and  a 
scholar,"  the  General  said,  after  long  and  grave 
inspection  of  the  faded  and  old-fashioned  picture. 
"  And  he  seems,"  he  added  as  he  returned  to  its 
inspection,  "  to  have  been  somewhat  broken  down. 
Ill  health,  I  presume  ?  " 

The  woman  did  not  reply.  I  saw  that  she  re- 
frained by  an  effort  from  looking  at  me.  Odd 
Archer  explained  it  all  to  me  afterward,  as  we 
shall  see.  Yet  I  must  say  here  that  he  hated  the 
woman,  connected,  I  think,  as  chief  witness  with 
one  of  his  manifold  disgraces.  I  made  allowance 
for  its  being  from  him  in  all  I  learned  from  his 
very  unreliable  lips.  Yet  Brown  County  agreed 
the  woman  had  worried  and  scolded  the  miserable 
husband  to  death.  Somehow  she  had  embroiled 
and  broken  him  up  along  a  series  of   downward 


MOSE  EVANS.  57 

removals.  AVliat  books  remained  to  him  were  his 
only  refuge.  To  give  value  to  tliese  pages,  I  would 
like  greatly  to  know  whether  they  were  sold  for 
bread,  lost  in  their  many  moves,  burned  accident- 
ally. It  would  be  dramatic  if  Brown  County  was 
right,  but  I  do  not  certainly  know,  and  therefore 
cannot  say,  whether  or  no  Mrs.  Evans  in  her 
storms  of  temper  did  really,  as  Brown  County  as- 
serted, rend  to  fragments  and  burn  the  poor  fel- 
low's volumes  to  the  very  last  leaf.  From  what 
Chaucer  makes  his  Wife  of  Bath  confess  of  her 
tempestuous  course  in  reference  to  the  volumes  of 
her  bookish  husband,  I  think  this  quite  likely. 

I  had  bought  a  picture  or  two,  had  heard  Helen 
and  others  talk,  as  well  as  listened  to  some  of  what 
Ruskin  has  to  say,  enough  to  enjoy  a  little  group- 
ing of  trees,  cows,  children  —  any  light  and  shade 
and  life.  Therefore  I  remember  the  morninjr  after 
our  first  nlMit  at  Mrs.  Evans's  double  \o^  cabin. 
As  we  afterward  learned,  Mose  had  got  up  about 
midnight,  watched  from  a  tree  a  certain  worn 
ravine  down  which  the  deer  came  to  drink  in  the 
river  at  dawn,  and  returned  by  breakfast  with  the 
antlered  result.  I  could  have  painted  it  if  I  could 
have  painted  anything,  that  morning  scene.  He 
had  hung  the  buck  to  a  limb  of  a  live-oak  off  to 


58  3I0SE  EVANS. 

one  side  in  the  yard.  From  respect  for  Lis  motli^ 
er's  ideas  of  neatness,  I  suppose,  he  had  disem- 
boweled the  beast  before  we  appeared,  so  that  no 
reminder  even  remained,  and  was  slowly  flaying 
the  animal  as  it  hung,  replying,  as  he  did  so,  to 
the  General  standing  by  greatly  interested  ;  for 
there  is  an  occult  connection  between  chivalry  and 
hunting,  since  Esau.  The  General,  his  white  hair 
uncovered  to  the  air,  and  aglow  with  the  bright 
morning,  a  sound  sleep  and  hearty  brealdast,  was 
admiring  the  young  Esau  more  than  his  prey.  Ko 
wonder.  I  would  n't  have  given  the  man  a  hun- 
dred a  year  as  entry  clerk  in  our  office ;  but  he 
was  worth  thousands  as  a  picture.  He  was  in 
leather  from  head  to  foot,  the  frins^e  aloncr  huntinor 
frock  and  cape,  and  general  neatness  throughout, 
telling  of  his  mother.  His  old  cap  lay  at  the  stock 
of  his  rifle,  which  was  leaning  against  the  well 
near  by,  and  his  uncovered  head  with  its  abundant 
hair  was  as  glorious  as  that  of  a  god,  the  sun  strik- 
ing upon  its  gold.  He  seemed  a  model,  in  all  his 
vigorous  frame,  of  absolute  youth,  health,  strength. 
It  was  the  sneer  of  Brown  County,  the  watch  Mrs. 
Evans  kept  upon  Mose,  and  his  consequent  purity 
in  all  regards  ;  and  the  complexion  of  the  man, 
the  childlike  unconsciousness  of  his  manner,  the 


MOSE  EVAXS.  69 

infantile  steadiness  and  clearness  of  liis  brow,  and 
*)i  liis  eyes  in  yours  —  you  see,  I  can  no  more  paint 
with  pen  than  with  brush  I 

"  I  never  met  a  nobler  youth  in  my  life,"  the 
General  said,  as  we  rode  off  about  our  lands. 
'*  He  seems  to  me  to  be  of  the  very  chivalry  of 
nature.  Good  blood,  rest  assured.  Possibly  his 
father  may  have  come  of  some  Carolina  or  Vir- 
ginia family.  Good  material  for  a  man  if  fallen 
into  the  right  hands.  I  intend  to  have  him  supply 
us  with  game,  if  we  close  our  matter,  Mr.  Ander- 
son. I  think  he  .would  interest  Agnes  ;  you  know 
we  will  not  bring  even  our  negroes — former  slaves, 
I  should  say  —  or  our  dogs,  if  we  remove." 

"  I  have  puzzled  myself,"  I  replied,  "  as  to  why 
his  mother  has  allowed  him  to  grow  up  untaught. 
Jealous  even  of  books,  because  she  never  opens 
one  ?  Hating  them  as  the  preference  of  her  hus- 
band to  her,  his  last  resort  from  her  ?  Or  sheer 
indifference  and  brutal  ignorance  !  The  only  in- 
tellect the  woman  ever  had  has  run  into  temper; 
vixen,  virago,  termagant,  they  tell  me." 

"  I  never  allow  myself,  Mr.  Anderson,"  General 
Throop  makes  grave  reply,  "  to  speak  disrespect- 
fully of  others.  Therefore  no  one  speaks,  I  be- 
lieve, disrespectfully  of  me.    Or,  it  is  to  their  face, 


60  MOSE  EVANS. 

when  I  must  speak.  Excuse  me,  as  so  much  the 
elder,  but  I  never  express  myself  with  other  than 
respect  of  the  aged,  of  the  helpless,  especially  of 
woman.  You  need  not  always  speak,  you  know. 
As  I  said  before,  yes,  sir,  her  son  is  noble  material. 
But  for  what  ?  If  there  is  a  future  for  this  most 
miserable  country,  I  do  not  know  it !  " 


VI. 

Not  with  cathedral's  granite  fires 
The  heart  flames  up  its  loftiest  spires. 
God's  husbandry  is  fullest  done 
■V\'here  falls  the  rain  and  shines  the  sun. 
Our  grapes  may  be  the  hot-house  yield, 
But  bread  by  harvests  grows  afield ! 
Its  grandest  gain  your  spirit  doth 
Attain  amid  the  forest  growth. 
To  wheat  and  oak  and  flower  and  you 
Most  life  where  freest  falls  the  dew. 
Where  wind  unhindered  blows  there  most 
Its  Archetype  the  Holy  Ghost ! 

In  one  point  we  were  unanimous  at  the  post- 
office,  that  day  I  first  met  the  worthies  assembled 
therein,  and  this  was  that  we  would  all  go  and 
hear  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parkinson  preach  next  Sunday. 
lie  had  come  in  for  his  letters  while  we  were  as- 
sembled there,  a  pale,  thin,  long-haired,  exceed- 
ingly shy  youth,  fresh  from  the  institution  which 
prepared  him  for  the  pulpit.  So  very  long  had 
Brownstown  been  without  the  services  of  any  min- 
ister, of  his  denomination,  at  least,  that  he  was 
accepted  as  a  novelty,  an  experiment,  a  mild  sen- 


62  MOSE  EVANS. 

sation,  even.  The  members  of  liis  cliurcli  were 
the  richest  men  around,  having  been  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Brown  County.  Doubtless  no  stricter 
members  existed  when  in  the  North  Carolina  from 
which  they  removed ;  but  "  things  had  got  awfully 
torn  up,"  as  the  patriarch  among  them  himself  told 
me,  during  the  absence  of  a  pastor  —  very  much 
so  indeed  if  I  was  to  accept  the  unanimous  state- 
ment of  all  I  met. 

Now,  my  host,  Mr.  Robinson,  was  a  member 
and  officer  of  the  church  of  which  Mr.  Parkinson 
was  the  very  youthful  minister.  He  was  a  very 
tall  man,  exceedingly  stooped  in  his  old  age,  and 
answered  to  the  title  of  Squire,  Judge,  Colonel, 
General,  Deacon,  or  Elder,  as  the  case  might  be  , 
and  although  not  quite  so  bad  as  Odd  Archer,  yet 
even  he  had  fallen,  unless  greatly  slandered,  into 
singular  courses  in  reference  to  card-playing  and 
horse-racing.  Sabbath  having  come,  there  was 
quite  a  congregation  of  -us  at  church.  And  a 
tumble-down  old  "  cathedral  '*  it  was ;  for  an 
Irishman,  in  excess  of  native  politeness,  alluded  to 
it  as  such  in  my  hearing  the  week  after.  A  mis- 
erable old  disused  dwelling  it  was,  that  Sabbath, 
and  has  fulfilled  before  this,  I  do  hope,  what  was 
then  its  fixed  intention  of  tumbling  down. 


MOSE  EVANS.  03 

"  The  entire  Robinson  connection  are  on  the 
ground,"  Odd  Archer  informed  me  before  we 
entered  the  house.  "  North  CaroUna  I  See  it  ? 
Stamped  in  strong  family  likeness :  tall,  red- 
haired,  sandy-complexioned,  gaunt  as  their  hogs, 
long  armed  and  legged,  inflexible.  As  strong  a 
family  likeness  among  them  as  there  is  in  a  boat- 
load of  clams  —  their  very  noses  long  and  insisting 
like  those  of  the  animals  mentioned !  In  fact, 
they  are  Scotch-Irish,  but  sadly  degenerate  after 
two  centuries  of  emigration.  Sir,"  Odd  Archer 
adds,  "  my  father  is  to-day  one  of  their  most 
eminent  divines.  He  was  out  here  once,  preached 
to  them  and  to  me.  But  it  was  too  much  for  him, 
these  people  and  myself." 

Yet  this  disreputable  limb  of  the  law  is  evi- 
dently arrayed  in  the  best  suit  of  his  shabby 
black,  to  do  honor  to  the  day  and  place  ;  and  in 
certain  curious  aspects,  tones,  bearing,  is  as  thor- 
ough a  gentleman  as  General  Throop  ;  and  with  a 
mutual  bow,  these  two  exchanged  the  civilities  of 
the  hour  before  the  General  passed  on  into  the 
place  of  worship. 

"  A  religious  man,  the  General,  I  see,"  the 
lawyer  added.  "  A  gentleman  always  is.  AVash- 
ii'gton  was.     I  am  a  hopeless  case  myself,  but  I 


64  MOSE  EVANS. 

can  and  Jo  respect  religion  in  others  !  If  tbej  a*« 
not  actiially  bringing  my  pet  to  cliurcli !  How  are 
you,  Dob  ?  "  For  Dick  Frazier,  hotel-keeper  and 
sheriff,  presses  past  us  through  the  throng  round 
the  entrance  at  this  moment,  with  a  man  heavily 
ironed.  "  Dob  Butler,"  my  informant  explains, 
"  the  worst  desperado  in  all  Brown  County.  You 
see,  he  would  n't  stay  in  the  jail,  breaks  out.  It 
is  a  good  idea  having  him  at  church ;  it  rests  Dick 
Frazier  and  may  do  Dob  some  good.  His  case  is 
on  at  court  next  week.  Oh,  I  will  clear  him  I 
No  doubt  about  his  guilt,  murdered  a  teamster, 
but  he  kept  money  enough  to  put  him  through  ! 
How  are  you,  Harry  !  Now,  Harry,  be  a  gentle- 
man. No  fun  here !  Dr.  Jones,  excuse  me ! 
Pardon  the  liberty,  but  seeing  it  is  Sunday  and 
church,  you  ought  to  have  dressed  up  a  little, 
Doc." 

"  Only  what  I  wore  every  day  in  Philadelphia." 
Dr.  Alexis  Jones  makes  cool  reply,  for  he  is 
dressed  in  the  extremity  of  fashion. 

"  Is  there  not,  excuse  me,  something  offensive  in 
the  air  ?  "  the  lawyer  says,  with  his  fingers  to  his 
ruby  nose  ;  "  pity  it  should  be  under  the  church 
—  polecat,  I  'm  afraid  !  " 

The  youtliful  physician  cannot  but  color  a  little 


MOSE  EVAXS.  65 

at  this  reference  to  liis  perfumery,  and  hastens  to 
turn  the  topic. 

"  But  how  smgular,  gentlemen !  here  in  this 
nineteenth  century  attending  church  ;  so  far  as  I 
am  concerned,  as  well  be  at  a  pagoda  in  Japan  !  " 
In  fact  Dr.  Jones  prided  himself  upon  his  unbelief, 
as  being  the  one  precious  possession  which  spe- 
cially distinoruished   him  from  and  elevated   him 

«  o 

above  the  common  herd,  and  made  it  prominent 
accordingly,  very  much  as  he  did  his  broadcloth 
and  jewelry.  As  the  young  man  passes  in.  Odd 
Archer,  Esq.,  says,  in  a  plaintive  manner,  "  I  can 
stand  a  scoundrel,  like  Dob  Butler  in  there,  or 
myself,  but  a  consummate  fool "  — 

At  this  juncture  we  are  swept  along  with  a 
number  of  people,  male  and  female,  into  the  long, 
low,  dingy  room  used  as  a  church ;  and  as  nearly 
twenty  thousand  of  our  best  preachers  labor  every 
Sabbath  under  like  circumstances,  along  the  line 
of  the  nation's  advance  westward,  let  me  review, 
for  my  gratification  if  not  for  yours,  dear  reader, 
this  Sabbath  service  with  Mose  Evans,  Mr.  Rob- 
inson,  and  the  rest,  Mr.  Parkinson  preaching. 
Because  there  is  a  heroism  in  such  service.  Planks 
have  been  so  disposed  upon  hide-bottom  chairs  as 
to  make  seats  sufficient  to  accommodate  the  two 


QQ  MOSE  EVANS. 

or  three  hundred  persons  present,  while  the  youth- 
ful clergyman  has  his  special  chair  beside  a  little 
well  inked  and  whittled  school  desk  by  the  huge 
fire-place  at  one  end  of  the  apartment ;  to  which 
now  this,  now  that  member  of  the  congregation 
comes  during  sermon  and  stands  beside  the  preach- 
er, warming  first  one,  then  the  other  of  his  or  her 
feet,  listenmg,  somewhat  in  the  attitude  of  a  critic, 
to  the  discourse  in  progress.  There  was  a  pun- 
cheon plank,  a  foot  or  so  off  to  the  left  from  the 
fire-place,  which  I  heard  Mr.  Robinson  warn  the 
young  minister  of  before  sermon,  as  sure  to  let 
him  through  into  the  cellar  below,  if  he  should 
step  upon  it.  There  were  never  less  than  seven 
children  running:  about  the  room  all  throuorh  and 
through  the  sermon  ;  the  number  of  smaller  mem- 
bers  of  the  conm-ec^ation  crvinsj  at  once  I  at- 
tempted  but  failed  to  count,  owing  to  inadequacy 
of  brains  for  labor  so  multiform.  Besides,  in 
order  to  see  his  sermon,  Mr.  Parkinson  had  piled 
two  brickbats  from  the  old  hearth  under  each  leg 
of  the  little  table  before  him,  and  was  in  evident 
terror  all  alongr  lest  a  touch  of  his  hand  should 
topple  the  pulpit,  and,  with  it,  the  entire  service 
and  Sabbath,  over,  as  actually  did  occur  some 
weeks  after !     And  the  poor  young  fellow  is  as 


MOSE  EVANS.  67 

thoroughly  unfitted  for  his  ministiy  of  such  a  flock 
iis  a  man  can  possibly  be.     Yet  I  do  not  know  ! 
He  is  as  fair  and  frail  as  a  flower,  and  his  congre- 
gation are  robust,  sunburned,  hardened  to  work, 
and,  a  good  many  of   them,  to  wickedness.     He 
knows  nothing  about   the  world,  and  they  know 
nothing  about  books.    Things  they  are  accustomed 
to  as  matter  of  course  are  repulsive  and  impossible 
to  him  !     The  exceeding  contrast  may  have  done 
the  people  good,  like  that  of  a  woman  to  a  man  ! 
But,  oh,  that  sermon  !     A  plea  for  the  personality 
of  the  devil,  I  remember,  making  Satan  very  neb- 
ulous, however,  from  excess  of  drapery.    Perfectly 
true   in   general   and  utterly  false   in  particular, 
merest  moonshine  as  to  practical  effect  upon  the 
people,  who  waited  with  waning  patience  for  him 
to   get   through.     ]\Ir.  Robinson  was   in  a   hide- 
bottom  chair  to  the  left,  tilted  against  the  wall 
upon  its  hind  legs,  solemnly  and  soundly  asleep. 
To  do  the  preacher  justice,  he  and  his  subject  both 
became  more  practical  toward  the  close.     And  it 
was    Mose    Evans,   listening   with    large,   earnest 
eyes,  like  a  big  boy  who  really  wanted  to  know 
all  about  the  matters  concerning  which  the  min- 
ister spoke,  who  steadied  him,  until  unconsciously 
he  stopped  x>reaching  and  began  to   tell  him,  w 


68  MOSE  EVANS. 

reply  to  his  eager  eyes,  all  the  theologian  himself 
knew  about  it. 

"  For  God's  sake,  Mr.  Parkinson,"  I  said  to 
nim  afterward,  when  we  had  become  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  each  other,  "  don't  talk  in  ab- 
stract essays  to  these  folks.  Your  discourse  is  so 
elaborate  that,  so  to  speak,  it  chills  and  changes 
you  into  a  sort  of  ecclesiastical  automaton  the 
moment  you  begin  to  deliver  it.  Why  clothe 
yourself  (for  I  want  you  to  do  good  here)  in  such 
a  mannerism  of  starch  and  silk  ?  You  are  not  a 
medicine-man  among  savages,  relying  upon  youi 
feathers  and  paint  to  conjure  them  out  of  their 
evil  case  !  These  are  common-sense,  siiming,  suf- 
fering men  and  women.  God  has  given  you  a 
sufficient  gospel  to  save  them  with.  Use  it,  man  ! 
Speak  it  out  plainly,  squarely,  to  the  sio  and  need 
of  the  congregation.  Don't  speak  of  your  Creator 
as  '  the  Deity.'  And  Satan  is  not  '  the  ethereal 
effluence  of  essential  evil ; '  call  him  the  devil  and 
be  done  with  it  !  Whom  are  you  so  afraid  of  ? 
They  will  respect  you  and  listen  to  you  and  be 
benefited  by  you  as  you  fear  no  one  but  your 
Master.  Be  as  practical,  Bible  in  hand,  as  if  you 
were  driving  a  trade !  Odd  Archer  before  a 
jury,  liar,  rogue,  lewd  dog  that  he  is,  has  a  thou- 


MOSE  EVANS.  69 

Band  times  your  sense  in  his  way  of  pleading  his 
cause  "  — 

But  never  mind.  To  go  back  to  the  congrega- 
tion, —  the  second  object  of  interest  at  church  was 
old  New  Hampshire.  Burdett,  Seth  Burdett,  is 
his  name  ;  I  should  have  recorded  it  before.  To 
the  amazement  of  Brownstown  he  came  out,  the 
old,  hard,  tough  postmaster,  in  a  new  light  alto- 
gether that  day.  After  giving  out  a  famihar  hymn 
the  young  minister  sat  blushing  and  paling  in  the 
silence  which  followed,  broken  as  it  soon  was  by 
certain  titterings  among  the  young  ladies  present. 
"  If  any  friend  can  raise  the  tune  "  —  the  preacher 
said,  at  last.  I  had  not  been  to  singing-school  in 
New  England  for  nothing,  and  had  already  hit 
upon  Ortonville  as  the  orthodox  tune  for  the  hymn 
announced.  But  the  postmaster  was  from  New 
England,  also,  and,  to  the  profound  astonishment 
of  all  there,  raised  that  very  tune  and  in  full  voice 
himself  !  Like  the  others  he  was  carefully  attired 
in  Ills  best,  and  was  as  practical,  persistent,  and 
undaunted  in  leading  the  singing  as  in  all  else.  It 
was  music  from  a  stone  Memnon  indeed!  His 
voice  was  somewhat  shrill,  but  not  without  a  cer- 
tain quaint  and  old-fashioned  sweetness  too,  and 
we  all  joined  in  when  a  verse  or  two  had  given  the 
world  assurance  of  a  tune  \ 


70  MOSE  EVANS. 

I  can  see  at  tliis  instant  the  horse-thief  and 
murderer —  Dob  Butler —  sitting  in  his  chains  be- 
side the  county  sheriff,  Dick  Frazier,  in  the  far- 
thest right-hand  corner,  the  jail  being  too  frail  to 
be  relied  upon  for  an  hour,  even  ;  how  the  clink, 
now  and  then,  of  the  fetters  still  sounds  upon  my 
ear  as  during  the  sermon  then,  through  all  the 
manifold  noises  of  the  years  since  ! 

Immediately  in  front  of  the  minister  were  the 
rest  of  the  Robinsons,  male  and  female,  who  all 
seemed  to  me  like  a  party  of  school  children  caught 
in  a  melon  patch,  stealing,  and  who  had  made  sol- 
emn promise  to  do  so  no  more. 

I  found  General  Throop  talking  with  Mose  Ev- 
ans out  of  doors  after  service  that  day.  He  was 
as  carefully  arrayed  as  his  saddle-bags  allowed, 
but  in  coarsest  jeans  he  would  have  been  General 
Theodore  Throop  and  —  Charleston  —  still. 

It  made  a  vast  difference  to  Mose  Evans,  the 
being  dressed  in  his  Sunday  best,  a  modest  suit  of 
gray  stuff.  He  was  twenty-three  years  old,  as  I 
was  told,  of  stalwart  yet  perfect  proportions,  with 
abundant  hair  and  beard,  silken  and  of  that  pecul- 
iar shade  of  gold  called,  Helen  tells  me,  by  paint- 
ers, "  lion's  eye,"  —  as  handsome  a  man  as  I  ever 
saw  in  my  life,  his  glory  lying  in  his  large,  frank 


MOSE  EVANS.  71 

eyes,  sincerity,  simplioity,  absolute  independence, 
supreme  liealth,  cordial  willingness  to  be  hearty 
friend  or  enemy,  as  you  saw  fit ! 

I  was  the  more  interested  in  him  as  his  home 
joined  the  General's  estate,  and  he  was  being  em- 
ployed to  oversee  certain  improvements  toward 
the  removal  of  the  family  from  Charleston  —  the 
lands  being  yet  exactly  as  they  were  left  after 
Creation  and  Deluge.  I  think  it  was  the  day  after 
that  Sunday's  service  that  Odd  Archer  remarked 
to  me,  in  continuation,  "  Mose  Evans  is,  sir,  a  child 
of  nature  !  As  you  will  pay  me  no  fee  for  lying 
in  the  matter,  I  will  add  that  the  man  is,  from 
sheer  ignorance,  I  suppose,  and  lack  of  opportu- 
nity, considered  to  be  as  immaculate  as  King  Ar- 
thur of  the  Round  Table,  —  for  I  read  a  book 
occasionally  as  variety  to  steady  ^vickedness." 

"  Is  he  very  poor  ?  "  I  began. 

"  Land !  "  My  informant's  only  reply,  but  ^vith 
an  emphasis. 

"We  spent  a  night  at  his  cabin ;  his  mother 
seemed  to  be  "  —  I  venture. 

"  Vixen.  Virago.  Termagant.  Xantippe. 
Should  have  been  ducked  to  death  as  a  notorious 
scold  years  ago.  Sir,"  my  companion  gravely 
added,  "  it  could  be  legally  done  in  the  river  to- 


72  MOSE  EVANS. 

morrow — statute  law  of  old  England  never  re- 
pealed. She  killed  her  husband.  This  way.  He 
was  a  professor  in  some  Georgia  college,  years  ago. 
Like  those  dry  old  pedants,  fell  desperately  in 
love  with  his  wife  when  a  blooming  girl,  be- 
cause, I  suppose,  she  was  so  pretty  and  so  igno- 
rant. Mold  her,  you  observe.  Very  soon  she 
broke  him  up  in  Georgia.  They  had  to  move 
and  move  and  keep  moving,  until  they  wound  up 
here,  where  he  died.  Sir,  that  poor  fellow  was 
scientifically  scolded  to  death !  I  tell  you,  Mr. 
Anderson,  if  Mrs.  Evans  had  been  a  Madame 
Brinvilliers  or  La  Farge,  and  made  daily  use  of 
the  lesser  poisons  of  herb  and  crucible,  it  could  not 
have  been  accomplished  more  systematically.  I 
knew  him.  About  his  land  titles.  We  lawyers 
have  to  know  everybody  and  everything.  He  had 
been  driven  into  a  kind  of  dazed  insanity  long 
before  he  died.  His  poor  body  held  out  longest, 
being  only  the  secondary  object  of  her  assault. 
The  son  does  not  know  how  to  read,  sir  !  " 

"  Mose  Evans  ?  " 

"  Mose  Evans  !  Splendid  specimen  of  a  man  as 
I  ever  saw  in  a  jury  box,  or  on  trial  for  murder, 
yet  cannot  read.  Owing  to  the  peculiar  unsettled- 
ness  of  their  life  and  to  his  remarkable  mother,  as 


MOSE  EVANS.  73 

they  say  of  Cornelia  and  Martha  Washington  !  I 
do  not  know  if  there  ever  were  other  children,  but 
Mose  is  now  her  only  child.  She  may  love  him, 
for  what  I  know,  but  he  never  learned  to  read.  I 
doubt  whether  she  has  ever  opened  a  book  since 
she  was  a  school-girl.  Fact,  sir."  All  of  which 
made  me  look  with  more  interest  upon  Mose  Ev- 
ans, meeting  liim  next  day  down  the  river  by 
appointment  in  company  with  General  Throop. 
Although  I  did  not  know  of  it  until  long  after- 
ward, I  will  mention  it  here  that  the  man  had 
begun  to  learn  to  read  in  those  days.  It  was  the 
old  postmaster  who  taught  him,  very  secretly,  in 
the  little  back  room  of  the  old  man's  store,  and  at 
mo-ht.  I  am  certain  his  mother  knew  nothing 
of  it. 

"This  queer  thing  about  it,  sir,"  the  lawyer 
had  told  me  in  the  conversation  just  mentioned ; 
"  it  is  the  poor  fellow's  mother  has  kept  him  clear 
of  the  women,  virtuous  and  otherwise.  I  suppose 
he  dreads  them  all  as  he  dreads  her,  knowing  his 
father's  experience  and  his  own.  All  the  women 
about  admire  him,  but  they  are  too  much  afraid  of 
his  mother  to  speak  to  him,  hardly ! " 

Aside  from  the  mere  gossip  of  Brown  County, 
all  this  interested  me  to  a  singular  degree.     Fool- 


74  MOSE  EVANS. 

ish  as  it  may  seem  to  you  at  this  stage  of  my  nar- 
rative, I  regarded  Mose  Evans  as  a  species  of  nug- 
get I  had  most  unexpectedly  stumbled  upon ;  and 
I  propose  to  be  rigidly  statistical  and  accurate  in 
regard  to  the  man,  as  we  all  instinctively  are 
where  gold  is  in  question.  As  I  write  he  rises  be- 
fore me,  illumined  by  all  the  wonders  which  fol- 
lowed ;  yet,  had  any  lunatic  imagined  them  all, 
and  asked  me  if  such  things  were  possible  of  him, 
I  would  have  said,  even  before  those  remarkable 
events  took  place,  "  Such  things  never  entered  my 
mind,  sir,  but  now  that  you  have  raised  the  ques- 
tion as  to  their  possibility,  why,  yes,  sir,  yes  !  " 
And  I  would  have  made  the  reply  even  with  en- 
thusiasm !  Looking  back  over  the  whole  affair,  I 
do  declare,  as  upon  oath,  before  a  notar^^  public, 
that  I  regard  Mose  Evans  as  being  the  most  re- 
markable man  I  ever  knew.  What  is  more,  dear 
reader,  I  trust  you  will  heartily  agree  with  me  be- 
fore we  part. 


vn. 

For  transient  guests,  new  wine  in  ready  flasks: 

For  life-long  friends,  old  wine  from  cellared  casks ! 

The  broker's  window  makes  but  small  display, 

In  iron  vaults  liis  bullion  hides  away. 

The  world  is  richer  where  the  willows  weep 

In  men,  than  where  the  eager  myriads  sweep 

The  ways,  in  ranks  a  living  million  deep ! 

At  the  time  of  which  I  would  now  speak,  Gen- 
eral Throop  and  family  had  arrived  in  Brown 
County  from  Charleston,  and  were  settled  down  in 
their  new  home  upon  the  bank  of  the  river,  a  few 
miles  below  Brownstown.  The  General  and  my- 
self had  carefully  selected  the  site  for  the  house. 
I  am  satisfied  that  the  General  entertained  some 
vague  idea  of  being  the  Romulus  of  a  new  Rome, 
or  rather,  and  far  better,  the  founder  of  a  new 
Carolina,  if  not  of  a  second  Charleston,  though 
ages  must  roll  away  before  his  purpose  could  be 
consummated.  The  glory  of  the  place  was  in  the 
baronial  old  live-oaks,  bearded  with  sweeping  gray 
moss,  and  extending  their  arms  abroad  over  the 


76  MOSE  EVANS. 

roof  below,  in  perpetual  benediction.  There  were 
plenty  of  magnolia-trees  scattered  around  the  cot- 
tage, as  up  and  down  the  river  for  hundreds  of 
miles,  laden  in  season  with  their  yellow- white  flow 
ers,  and  intoxicating  the  air  with  perfume.  A 
paradise  of  a  place,  with  its  greensward,  the  broad 
verandah  having  a  swinging  hammock  for  the  old 
General,  in  which  he  smoked  the  day  through  and 
the  year  round  ;  smoked  with  set  purjDose,  as  if  he 
would  puff  his  soul  and  body,  all  his  disastrous 
past,  blasted  present,  and  hopeless  future  away,  to 
be  lost  and  perish  with  the  Confederate  cause,  as 
the  smoke  from  his  white  moustached  lips  did  in 
the  air !  No  syllable  of  complaint  about  his  per- 
sonal fortunes ;  a  vast  deal,  I  confess,  about  the 
Federal  government,  and  the  era  of  "  ism  and 
rapid  ruin  over  all  the  world  !  " 

"  The  very  prosperity,  sir,"  he  often  said  to  me, 
'•  of  your  country,  —  t/our  country,  for  it  is  not 
mine,  —  like  that  of  Rome  when  it  had  fallen  un- 
der the  despotism  of  its  Caesars,  is  but  the  flush  of 
the  fever  which  is  destroying  it !  "  and  much  more 
to  the  same  effect. 

Whenever  I  happened  for  the  night  at  the  Gen- 
eral's, in  my  many  land  excursions  here  and  there 
over  Brown  County,  I  could  not  but  observe  the 


MOSE  EVANS.  77 

Mary  Martha  Washington,  their  slave  of  whom  I 
have  already  spoken,  —  their  slave  on  religious 
principle,  as  sublimated  by  her  delusion  as  was 
^Irs,  General  Throop  by  hers.  I  was  to  the  old 
"'  girl "  a  specimen  of  the  terrible  variety  of  my 
race  known  as  "  an  Abolitionist,"  alluded  to  dur- 
ing all  her  life,  only  in  dark  and  shuddering  whis- 
pers, as  once  the  vilest  and  most  venomous  of 
mankind,  and  endured  by  her  now  only  mider 
protest  ! 

But  I  am  speaking  of  the  home  of  the  Throops. 
I  had  secured  the  services  of  Mose  Evans  as  a  kind 
of  overseer,  while  the  building  was  being  erected. 
It  was  nothing  but  a  pile  of  hewn  logs,  the  cracks 
between  carefully  "  chinked  and  daubed,"  that  is, 
filled  in  with  blocks  of  wood  sawed  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  coated  with  mortar  outside  and  inside 
alike.  My  "  overseer  "  had  given  his  heart  to  the 
work  during  the  months  it  was  in  course  of  being 
constructed,  before  the  arrival  of  the  family,  and 
Brown  County  in  general  came  to  see,  and  con- 
gratulated him  upon  the  result.  There  were  a 
good  number  of  rooms  carpeted  with  India  mat- 
ting, a  comfortably  furnished  library,  the  parlor 
arranged  as  much  like  the  one  in  Charleston  as 
Mose  Evans  could  manage  it,  from  plans  furnished 


78  MOSE  EVANS. 

by  me.  The  whole  place,  in  fact,  was  a  spot  to 
spend  a  week  of  romance  in,  and  then  to  weary  to 
death  of,  unless  alive  with  some  deeper  interest  to 
you.  The  family  were  there  simply  as  in  exile, 
confident  of  living  and  dying  in  banishment. 
There  was  no  possible  reversal  of  their  sentence ; 
you  would  learn  that  much  soon  after  your  ac- 
quaintance !  Knowing  this,  the  household  did  all 
that  human  beings  in  their  case  could  do  to  feel  at 
home,  and  to  be  neighborly  with  all ;  their  culture, 
however,  marking  them  off  as  distinctly  from  the 
families  and  persons  around  as  if  they  had  arrived 
from  another  planet.  I  had  ventured  this  last  as- 
sertion to  vcLy  venerable  host,  Mr.  Robinson,  one 
day  during  my  sojourn  with  him,  in  the  emergency 
of  having  no  one  else  to  say  it  to,  only  to  be  mis- 
understood, my  friend  being  deaf  of  outer  and 
inner  hearing. 

"  Froni  another  plantation  ?  so  they  are  ;  sea- 
island  cotton  place  somewhere  there  in  Carolina. 
Twenty  cents,  I  'm  told,  when  our  best  upland  is 
only  ten  !  Longer  and  finer  staple,  you  see  !  Gin 
it  with  rollers  instead  of  saws  like  us.  Stuff  it  in 
a  long  bag  hung  through  a  hole  in  the  gin  floor, 
with  a  nigger  and  a  crowbar,  instead  of  a  screw 
and  press  like  us.     Sing'lar,  is  n't  it  ?  " 


MOSE  EVANS.  79 

Now  I  regret  all  the  time  I  am  writing,  that, 
being  merely  an  overworked  business  man,  I  can- 
not put  upon  paper  the  people  inhabiting  this, 
theii-  new  home,  at  the  time  I  would  speak  of,  all 
of  whom  I  came  to  like  almost  beyond  any  persons 
I  had  ever  known  before.  Certainly,  they  were 
to  me  a  new  and  remarkable  variation  upon  all 
my  previous  experiences.  There  was,  for  instance, 
the  wife  and  mother.  You  have  met  invalids  —  I 
select  the  gentlest  term  —  like  jNIrs.  Throop,  or 
my  effort  to  place  her  before  you  is  utter  failure. 
Dickens  would  have  run  off  with  the  comic  side  of 
her  singular  character,  Thackeray  with  the  tragic ; 
torn  to  atoms,  the  poor  lady,  in  either  case.  Ah 
me  !  I  close  my  eyes  and  see  her  now  !  Nothing 
but  a  matron  in  deep  black,  with  the  simple  man- 
ners of  a  lady,  but  with  eyes  which,  with  abnormal 
insight,  arraign  you  on  the  instant,  read  your  soul, 
condemn  you,  endure  you  merely  for  the  present ! 
"  I  myself  used  to  sin  like  the  rest  of  you,"  I  have 
actually  heard  her  say  in  conversation,  "  but  I 
have  got  beyond  all  that.  You  are  to  me  as  I  my- 
self once  was,  therefore  I  know  your  very  soul  so 
well !  I  used  all  the  forms  and  ceremonies  ;  there 
in  Charleston,  not  for  myself,  but  for  their  influ- 
ence on  others.     I  do  not  regret  being  deprived  of 


80  MOSE  EVANS. 

tliem  all  here,"  for  it  was  after  her  removal  to  the 
West  I  heard  her  that  evening,  many  evenings, 
"  since  I  had  long  done  with  them.  Nothing  in 
Sabbath  or  Scripture,  prayer  or  praise,  of  service 
to  me  any  longer.  And  how  sorry,  sorry  I  am  for 
the  rest  of  you  !  " 

All  that  Agnes,  so  like  and  so  utterly  unlike  her 
mother,  could  do  on  such  occasions  was  to  say,  oc- 
casionally, ••'  Oh,  mother !  "  "  Now,  mother  !  "  as 
to  an  invalid,  or  simply  to  hang  her  head  in  shame. 
The  old  General  always  gravely  arose,  when  the 
topic  came  up,  and  walked  sadly  from  the  room. 

''  Our  Theodore  is,  you  know,  Mr.  Anderson,  in 
heaven,  —  killed  in  Sumter  !  and  I  have  so  much, 
oh,  so  very  much  more  actual  companionship  every 
day  with  him  than  I  have  with  the  General  or 
with  Agnes  here  !  we  two  understand  each  other  ! 
You,  poor  creatures,  how  I  do  know  and  pity 
you !  " 

And  there  was  Mr.  Clammeigh  !  Once  or  twice 
he  came  out  from  Charleston  to  see  them.  I 
wish  I  could  photograph  him  upon  this  page.  Of 
course,  his  connection  with  Helen  —  I  refer  to  my 
wife  —  prejudiced  me.  And  why  should  I  be  so 
drawn  toward  and  repelled  from  that  cold,  correct, 
polished,  silent  corpse  of  a  man  ?     I  am  from  New 


MOSE  EVANS.  81 

England,  not  from  the  tropics,  yet  there  is  some 
profound  antipathy  of  our  natures  ;   my  fault  of 
excess,  possibly,  or  his  of  deficiency.     Lift  a  cab- 
bage leaf  and,  in  recoiling  from  the  toad  squatted 
beneath,  you  recoE  from  Mr.  Clammeigh !  sm.te 
asunder  a  primeval  rock  to  find  a  living  frog  seated 
in  its  centre  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  as  in- 
different to  light  as  to  darkness,  to  motion  as  to 
rest  -  "  Now,  I  Uke  Mr.  Clammeigh  !  "     ^^  Hy 
should  it  always  be  said  as  in  defense  of  the  man  ? 
Hawthorne  would  analyze  the  inmost  ice  of  this 
heart ;  I  do  not  pretend  to.     About  the  only  thmg 
I  know  is,  if  Mr.  Clammeigh  dwells,  we  will  say, 
as  at  the  North  Pole,  then  Mose  Evans  has  his 
home  at  the  South  Pole  ;  never  two  men  more  ex- 
actly the  opposite  the  one  of  the  other !     I  have  a 
sense  of  relief  as  I  cease  in  despair  from  saymg 
anything  more  upon  the  subject.     I  do  not  under- 
stand Mr.   Clammeigh.      Yet  Mose  Evans  I  do 
understand,  as  I  do,  may  I  say,  a  section  of  knd, 
or  a  summer  morning  ?     The  philosophy  of  it  a  1, 
I  suppose,  is  that  l^Iose  Evans  is  simply  and  purely 
nature,  human  nature ! 

Although  it  seems  absurd  to  name  Miss  Agnes 
Throop  in  the  same  breath  with  the  untutored 
backwoodsman  in  question,  yet,  if  I  ^as  to  say 


82  MOSE  EVANS. 

that  I  never  knew  a  manlier  man  than  Mose  Ev- 
ans, I  could  add,  and  m  the  same  sense,  that  I 
never  met  a  womanlier  woman  than  Miss  Throop. 
Draped  as  she  was  from  birth  in  the  linens,  silks, 
ribbons  of  conventionalism,  thoroughly  enveloped, 
as  to  her  very  soul,  so  to  speak,  in  the  subtler  Valen- 
ciennes of  her  peculiar  breedmg,  she  was,  as  if  in 
virtue  of  her  very  refinement,  so  much  the  more 
woman,  simply  woman  !  Heaven  knows  what  it 
was  in  her  that  remmded  one  of  Eden  and  Eve. 
Small  figure,  dark  yet  ever  variable  eyes,  hair  of 
the  same  hue,  peculiar  grace  of  manner,  highest 
cultui'e  of  tone  and  bearing,  natural  grace  and 
sweetness,  —  it  is  useless  for  me  to  attempt  de- 
scription, though  all  the  army  of  nouns  and  adjec- 
tives marched  to  my  assistance  !  I  admire  and  love 
my  wife  as  well  as  husband  ever  did,  or  could,  yet 
next  to  her,  I  swear  allegiance  to  this  lady,  be- 
cause you  can  no  more  deny  her  being  a  queen, 
than  you  can  deny  her  existence. 

*'  I  do  thank  you  so  sincerely,  Mr.  Anderson ! " 
she  said  to  me  the  day  I  dropped  in  upon  them  for 
the  first  time  after  their  arrival ;  and,  somehow, 
in  giving  me  her  cordial  eyes  and  hand  she  gave 
me,  if  I  dared  to  say  it  without  being  mismider- 
stood,  her  heart  and  soul.     "  You  and  that  Mr. 


MOSE  EVANS.  83 

Evans  have  done  so  much  more  for  us  than  we 
could  have  hoped,  and  m  such  a  short  time,  too. 
It  is  a  paradise  of  a  place  !  There  is  so  much  in 
our  taking  a  strong  liking  to  a  new  home,  and 
from  the  very  first !  " 

But  I  cannot  record  the  conversation.  As  much 
in  tone  and  manner  as  in  words,  she  let  me  know 
that  she  perfectly  understood  her  new  position  and 
intended  to  fill  it.  To  make  up  to  her  parents 
for  wealth,  slaves,  health,  lost  son  and  brother, 
Charleston,  the  whole  world  they  had  forever  lost, 
—  this  was  the  task  she  had  taken  upon  her. 
Task  is  not  the  word,  nor  duty,  nor  even  pleasure ; 
this  was  to  be  her  glad  life  thenceforth  !  Fascina- 
tion ?  And  consisting  as  much  in  my  weakness  as 
in  her  pecuhar  power  ?  Perhaps  so.  Yet  I  insist 
upon  the  fact  that  all  persons  coming  under  her 
influence  were  affected,  more  or  less,  in  the  same 
way.  Not  my  own  sex  only,  the  other  also,  which 
makes  it  the  more  wonderful. 


vni. 

Tou  may  1o\'B  your  father,  mother, 
Friend  on  friend,  your  sister,  brother, 
Love  like  that  a  hundred  other. 
But  Eve  alone  had  Adam's  kiss, 
One  Eve,  one  Adam !    More  than  this 
Were  watered  wine,  bewildered  bliss! 
For,  when  your  highest  love  is  won, 
For  first  and  last  your  love  is  done. 
Thou  God  art  Love,  and  Thou  art  One ! 

I  WAS  much  occupied,  after  I  had  seen  the 
Throops  fairly  fixed  iii  their  new  home,  with  the 
affairs  of  our  company.  I  had  to  examine  in  per- 
son large  bodies  of  land,  not  merely  in  Brown 
County  but  over  the  entire  State.  My  wife  has 
hkened  me  to  a  sparrow-hawk.  Certainly  no  fowl 
of  the  air  could  come  and  go  upon  the  wing  more 
irregularly,  hardly  more  swiftly  than  myself.  The 
fact  is,  money  was  to  be  made,  just  there  and  then, 
and  a  good  deal  of  it.  In  consequence,  I  often 
lost  sight  of  the  Throops,  and  for  long  periods  at 
a  time,  for  I  had  to  come  and  go,  too,  between 
Charleston  and   Brownstown   more  than  once  at 


MOSE  EVANS.  85 

this  juncture.  I  made  a  rapid  call  upon  the  Gen- 
eral whenever  I  possibly  could,  but  my  head-quar- 
ters were  chiefly,  for  land  reasons,  with  Mr.  Rob- 
inson, patriarch  as  he  was  both  in  church  and  state. 
On  one  of  my  rapid  returns  for  the  moment  to 
Brownstown,  Odd  Archer,  Esq.,  had  laid  hands 
upon  me  as  I  alighted  in  front  of  Dick  Frazier's 
hotel,  from  my  mustang. 

"  Look  here,  Major  Anderson,"  he  said,  "  I  've 
tre-men-dous  news  for  you,  sir !  It  will  astonish 
you,  sir,  tough  to  astonishment  as  I  '11  acknowl- 
edge you  are  ! " 

"  That  you  have  given  up  drinking,  and  the  like, 
Mr.  Archer  ?  Yes,"  I  replied,  "  I  am  astonished. 
If  it  will  only  hold  out."  But  I  decline  to  narrate 
what  followed  upon  the  part  of  the  reprobate  law- 
yer. The  fact  is,  I  halted  him  in  mid-volley,  so 
to  speak,  mounted  my  weary  animal,  and,  caked 
in  mud,  as  well  as  ravenously  hungry  and  dead 
tired  as  I  was,  rode  through  the  swamp  and  the 
darkness  to  Mr.  Robinson's  plantation,  miles  out 
of  town.  Upon  some  topics  I  "  had  to  stand  Odd 
Archer,"  as  the  county  phrase  ran  ;  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  his  remarks  just  then,  "  I  could  n't  and 
would  n't  and  did  n't !  "  to  use  the  same  county 
dialect. 


86  MOSE  EVANS. 

Even  when  comfortably  seated  with  Mr.  Robin- 
son, after  a  particularly  hearty  supper  beneath  his 
roof,  I  shrank  from  asking  questions.  No  ques- 
tions were  needed.  The  matter  mentioned  to  me 
by  the  lawyer  was  the  epidemic  astonishment  of  all 
Brown  County ;  it  was  impossible  for  my  host  not 
to  speak  of  it.  But  I  allowed  him  to  approach  it 
in  his  own  way.  "  Oh,  yes,"  he  said,  "  we  all  know 
Mose  Evans.  Everybody  hkes  Mose,  takes  a  fancy 
to  him  from  the  first,  like  you.  And  it  is  nigh  im- 
possible to  stir  him  up.  But  when  he  is  roused  ! 
You  never  heard,  Mr.  Anderson,  of  the  thrashing 
he  gave  Job  Peters  ?  Oh,  well,  hardly  worth 
telling,  at  least  not  to-day,  Sunday.  Job  did  not 
know,  I  suppose,  about  Miss  Agnes  Throop.  Not 
then  !  He  does  now !  We  all  do  now.,  of  course  ! 
Job  whispered  something  about  her  to  Mose  ;  he 
will  never  say  what  it  was,  and  no  man  dares  ask 
Mose.  Only  one  blow  !  Nary  another !  I  tell  you 
they  were  so  long  bringing  Job  to,  with  their  buck- 
ets of  water  dashed  on  him,  that  they  began  to  be- 
lieve Job  had  gone  for  good  !  "  To  the  place  where 
the  bad  Jobs  go,  I  say  to  myself  ;  for  we  all  know 
Job  Peters,  too,  as  well  as  we  do  Mose  Evans.  Job 
is  the  only  brother  of  Harry  Peters,  the  native  Joe 
Miller  of  Brown  County,  but  "  all  the  cussedness," 


MOSE  EVANS.  87 

Mr.  Robinson  remarked,  "  of  the  familv  was  in 
Job."  Harry's  fun  was  enjoyed  by  the  passing 
object  of  it,  most  of  any ;  somehow  Job's  fun 
was  very  apt  to  draw  a  blow  in  return,  —  a  curse, 
at  least. 

"  There  is  one  thing  about  Mose  Evans  will  as- 
tonish you,"  Mr.  Robinson  proceeds  ;  "  I  never 
think  of  ^[ose,  but  as  a  great  big  promising  lad. 
\\1iy,  Mr.  Anderson,  that  man  "  — 

''  Pardon  me,  I  've  been  told  of  it  five  hundred 
times,  —  cannot  read,"  I  reply. 

"  And  no  better  rider  in  Brown  County,"  says 
Mr.  Robinson,  "  no  better  neighbor  in  a  bear-fight, 
no  better  shot,  as  good  a  planter,  let  alone  being 
too  easy  with  his  black  ones." 

"  They  told  me,  as  I  came  through  town  "  —  I 
interrupt,  with  considerable  reluctance,  too. 

For  so  old  a  man,  my  host  snatches  the  topic 
from  my  lips  with  singular  eagerness. 

"  It  was  the  first  day  Father  Hailstorm  preached 
after  her  people  moved  here,"  he  said,  filling  bis 
cob-pipe  full  again  as  for  a  good  talk.  "  You  see, 
she  came  for  the  first  time  to  our  meeting  that 
day  "  —  strong  pull  at  his  pipe  —  "  with  her  old 
father,  the  General  there.  What  a  powerful  gen- 
tleman he  is  to  look  at ;  high-toned,  too  !     But, 


88  MOSE  EVANS. 

fact  is,  sir,  I  never  saw  anytliiiig  so  wonderful  in 
her  :  a  nice  lady,  a  very  nice  lady,  of  course,  but 
more  like  a  whiff  of  smoke  !  My  taste  is  some- 
thing solid,  substantial,  healthy,  stout,  you  see  !  " 
my  informant  added  frankly,  his  wife  quite  over- 
flowing two  hundred  pounds,  and  every  freckled 
daughter  upon  the  ascending  path  to  the  same 
avou'dupois,  or  more. 

"  That  day  there  at  church,  it  was  Father  Ran- 
som preached  ;  I  disremember  what  month,  but  it 
was  Ransom,  sure ;  Hailstorm,  they  call  him. 
That  is  the  way  I  come  to  remember.  She  took 
her  seat  upon  the  front  plank,  —  lit  on  it  like  you 
see  a  chip-bird  on  a  twig,  her  father  with  her ;  so 
crowded,  you  see,  no  other  place.  I  always  set  on 
one  side  the  stand,  —  keeps  the  folks  in  order 
when  they  know  I  see  every  soul  of  them,  —  and 
I  thought  of  it  the  moment  she  came  in.  And  so 
you  are  that  old  General  Theodore  Throop  and 
his  daughter,  I  said  to  myself,  come  out  to  get 
better  and  better  acquainted  ?  Glad  to  see  you, 
and  not  so  glad  either.  Hailstorm  !  I  know  you 
won't  believe  it,  sir,  but  I  tell  you  the  fact.  One 
day  years  ago  when  the  folks  started  for  church,  I 
stayed  at  home.  I  '11  bet  you  a  bale,  I  said  to 
Judy  as  she  got  up  on  the  horse-block,  —  we  had 


MOSE  EVANS.  89 

run  down  a  little  in  our  ways  then,  so  long  with- 
out a  preacher  of  our  own  denomination,  —  a  bale, 
I  said,  if  I  do  not  tell  you,  sitting  here  upon  my 
front  porch,  just  as  much  of  the  sermon,  a  mile 
away  it  was,  as  you  do.  See  if  I  don't !  such  a 
tremendous  voice  he  has,  Father  Ransom." 

"  I  hope  you  lost  your  bale.  Judge,"  I  remarked, 
Judge  being  the  phase  of  Mr.  Robinson's  character 
when  spoken  to  just  then. 

"I  do  not  approve  of  betting  !  "  as  from  the 
bench,  my  friend  gravely  replied,  in  contradiction 
to  statements  I  had  heard  of  him,  "  or  they  would 
have  had  to  pay !  You  know  wife  and  the  girls 
claim  a  bale  each,  of  the  crop  when  it  goes  to  the 
port.  In  county  sales,"  by  which  my  host  meant 
account  of  sales,  "  the  price  is  given  of  their  bales 
separate  ;  for  calicoes,  ribbons,  hoop-skirts,  and 
tilings,  you  know  !  Of  course  I  could  n't  hear  un- 
til the  old  man,  a  most  an  excellent  man  he  is,  got 
warmed  up.  After  that  ?  I  managed  even  to 
guess  out  the  text ! " 

"  But  about  Miss  Agnes  Throop,  Squire  ?  " 

"  What  I  'm  talking  about !  "  my  friend  Mr. 
Robinson  added.  "  It  will  kill  you,  I  said  to  my- 
self very  first  thing  when  I  saw  her  take  that  seat 
in  reach  of  his  very  hand  —  so  close  I  was  afraid 


90  MOSE  EVANS. 

he  would  strike  her  that  way,  too,  when  he  got 
a-oroin^.  You  see,  the  old  man  forgets  ever;^i:hing 
but  the  sinners  and  their  danger.  And  "  —  my 
friend  continued  after  considerable  pause  —  "  we 
do  have  some  hard  cases  among  us  for  sure  !  And 
he  knows  exactly  how  case-hardened  they  are  !  I 
tell  you  he  mauls  them  !  And  not  one  bit  of  use 
their  pretending  to  slip  out  to  look  after  their  ani- 
mals I  One  good  mile  all  around  !  Unless  them 
fellows  actually  mount  and  ride  for  it,  they  can't 
help  hearing,  —  after  the  old  man  gets  roused,  I 
mean  !  A  most  an  excellent  man  ;  does  his  duty, 
yes,  sir  !  And  I  've  noticed  this,"  my  friend  pro- 
ceeds after  a  serious  pause,  "this,"  —  longer  pause, 
—  oh,  well,  this :  he  tells  them  just  what  and  who 
they  are,  and,  very  plainly,  pre-cisely  where  they 
are  going !  Makes  that  awful  plain !  hair  stand 
on  an  end,  you  see.  Not  to  say  he  ever  shook  us 
of  the  Robinson  connection  much ;  not  of  our  de- 
nomination, YOU  know.  If  Brother  Parkinson  nor 
no  other  of  our  own  church  had  never  come,  we 
never  would  have  joined  any  church  but  our  own. 
That  is  n't  our  way,  in  politics  or  religion  !  But 
before  he  closes,  —  Hailstorm,  I  mean,  —  he  al- 
wavs  speaks  of  the  Saviour  for  every  one  of  them 
that  will  repent,  and  always  in  the  lowest  tones ! 


MOSE  EVANS.  91 

M-dj  be  lie  is  worn  out,  no  voice  left.  But  it  is  if 
they  repent  and  believe,  —  powerful  plain  upon 
that  if;  weeping,  too,  and  everybody  else,  for  that 
matter  !  It  may  be  because  of  what  goes  before, 
but  this  last  part  of  his  sermon  always  brings 
them  !     I  mean,  does  them  most  good  !  " 

"  But,  Miss  Agnes  Tliroop  ?  '*  I  have  to  add, 
for  my  friend  is  gi'avely  thmking  of  something 
else. 

"  Oh,  her  !  That  day  ?  Well,  I  watched  her 
ad  he  got  a-going.  She  was  actually  frightened 
for  a  while.  His  voice  is  tremendous  !  And  he 
never  preaches  less  than  an  hour  and  a  half.  She  ? 
Like  a  prairie  flower  in  a  whirlwind,  sitting  almost 
in  the  whirl  of  his  arms,  most  of  his  voice  over  her 
head,  somehow.  Fact  is,  I  forgot  all  about  her  as 
he  drew  toward  the  close  ;  the  old  man  was  speak- 
ing of  amazing  love  to  the  worst  case  there,  tears 
running  down  his  white  beard,  worse  than  the  per- 
spiration before ;  we  were  all  weeping,  all  except 
myself,  I  believe.  Oh,  her  ?  I  happened  to  notice 
her  as  the  old  man  fell  back  in  his  hide-bottom 
chair,  sermon  done.  She  was  crying,  too,  more 
like  a  flower  you  have  seen  all  beaten  down  and 
drenched  after  a  heavy  shower.  Not  that  I  think 
her  what  you  would  call  pretty,  mind.     Too  frail- 


92  MOSE  EVANS. 

like,  swinging  on  a  stem  a  breath  woulcl  break. 
Now,  I  like  solid,  well,  fleshy  "  — 

"  I  wonder  when  Mose  Evans  first  saw  her,"  I 
said  at  this  point.     "  When  was  it.  General  ?  " 

"  That  is  what  I  'm  coming  to,  if  you  '11  owly 
give  me  time,"  my  friend  makes  eager  reply. 
*'  That  very  day  it  was  !  You  see  I  always  sit  on 
the  right  of  the  stand  —  a  loose  puncheon  plank 
there,  and  ever  so  manv  children  cominc:  about 
during  preaching,  to  drink  from  the  preacher's 
water  there  on  the  stand.  That  day  ^lose  Evans 
he  got  crowded  on  to  the  end  of  a  plank  seat,  far- 
thest end,  not  six  inches  to  sit  on,  holding  on  by 
gripping  into  a  crack  between  the  logs  behind  him 
some  way.  Oh,  I  noticed  Mose !  The  instant 
that  Miss  Agnes  Throop  came  crowded  along  after 
the  old  General,  her  head  down,  I  noticed  Mose 
looking  at  her  as  any  man  would ;  she  a  new- 
comer, somehow  not  like  our  other  girls,  you  see. 
It  was  onlv  that  after  she  sat  down ! "  and  the 
narrator  illustrated  his  meaning  by  a  snap  of  finger 
and  thumb.  "  Oli,  I  saw  it  all !  She  lifted  up 
her  head  and  looked  modestly  about.  The  instant 
her  eyes  fell  upon  Mose  Evans  "  — 

"  Well  ?  "  I  demanded,  after  some  silence. 

"  For  mv  life,  I  never  could  see,  for  mv  soul  I 


MOiiE  EVANS.  93 

never  can  see,  \vluit  it  is  in  her !  "  my  friend  said 
in  accents  of  compUiint.  "  Eyes  ?  Yes.  Every- 
body 's  got  eyes.  And  I  know  hers  are  what 
you  \l  call  larger  eyes  than  usual.  Brown  ?  I  be- 
lieve they  are  brown  eyes.  And  she  's  so  slight 
put  together,  does  n't  weigh  more  'n  half  of  our 
Betsy  spinning  in  the  cook-house  back  there  all 
the  week.  Poor  thing !  Loss  of  their  property 
that  wild  brother  of  hers  dead  back  in  Carolina 
pining,  the  girls  tell  me,  for  that  chippy  sort  of  ^ 
Clammeigh  that  came  out  to  see  her.  Eyes  ?  Sha 
seems  all  eyes,  —  the  frailest  thing  !  " 
"  But  about  Mose  Evans,  Colonel?  " 
"  Struck  like  by  lightning,  sir  !  "  (Gravest  an- 
imation.) "  The  girls  say  it  is  all  my  fancy.  I 
suppose  I  can  see  if  I  am  seventy  !  The  moment 
her  eyes  fell  on  that  man's  face,  great  big  man  as 
he  is,  over  a  hundred  and  eighty !  —  he  was  sit- 
ting, ISIose  Evans  was,  on  less  than  half  a  foot  of 
the  plank  end,  holding  hard  to  the  crack  behind 
him  to  keep  that  —  the  moment  she  looked  him  in 
the  face,  that  man,  sir,  great  big  fool  that  he  is, 
"wilted  like  —  like  —  whether  he  was  astonished, 
scared.  .  .  .  You  see,  all  his  life  Mose  has  lived  in 
the  woods.  If  she  is  pretty,  /cannot  see,  and  all 
even  of  the  men  folks  say  the  same,  so  very  much 


9-i  MOSE  EVANS. 

of  it !  But  that  poor  fellow  fell  in  love  with  her 
like  falling  down  a  w^ell !  I  sat  so  near,  happened 
to  be  looking  so  close,  the  matter  has  made  so 
much  talk  since,  I  often  think  of  it ;  it  was  her 
eyes,  sir,  and  they  hit  and  killed  that  man !  Xever 
saw  anything  like  it  in  all  my  life.  A  perfect  fool 
he  has  made  of  himself.  I  'm  as  certain  as  a  man 
can  be  of  anything,  he  never  heard  a  sound  of 
Father  Ransom's  sermon  !  Staring  at  first  at  her 
as  if  he  had  never  seen  a  woman  before !  She  is 
not  like  the  common  run  of  girls,  I  acknowledge. 
Soon  as  he  saw  how  she  colored  up  and  turned 
away,  he  was  careful  not  to  do  that,  only  stealing 
a  look  out  of  the  corners  of  his  eyes,  his  face  to- 
ward the  preacher  all  the  time,  and  no  more  hear- 
ing that  preacher  "  — 

"  I  wonder  if  he  ever"  —  I  suggested. 

"  Went  to  their  place  there  on  the  river  ?  "  my 
informant  anticipated  me.  "No,  sir!  Nor  ever 
mentioned  her  name  to  a  soul,  that  I  know  of. 
He  would  n't  have  given  Job  Peters  that  blow,  — 
only  one  blow  it  was,  whatever  Job  said,  —  if  he 
had  stopped  to  think.  For  her  sake,  you  see,  he 
would  n't  have  done  it.  And  he  never  annoys  her 
like  by  following  her  about.  Mose  Evans  is  as 
high  a  toned  a  gentleman  as  I  know ;  owns  thou- 


MOSE  EVANS.  95 

sands  of  acres  of  best  bottom  lands.  You  '11  see 
his  brand  of  stock,  an  E  in  a  circle,  scattered  fifty- 
miles  around.  Pity  lie  never  learned  to  read. 
People  laugh  at  Mose  Evans,  but  they  like  him, 
too,  more  even  than  they  do  Harry  Peters  ;  you 
see  there  's  a  thousand  times  more  in  him  !  It  is 
here  as  it  always  is  where  young  people  are,  good 
deal  of  courting  going  on.  But  not  this  sort! 
IMose  Evans  is  as  still  and  silent  about  it  as  you 
please,  but  it 's  the  most  powerful  sort  of  love  ever 
known  in  these  parts!  Because  it  has  changed 
Mose  Evans  so  !  They  say  he  is  learning  to  read, 
and  if  that  young  fellow  had  been  off  to  college  — 
pshaw,  not  that ;  look  at  that  Dr.  Alexis  Jones ! 
I  mean  if  he  had  clerked  ten  years  in  a  dry  goods 
store,  —  it  wouldn't  have  transmogrified  him  so, 
as  the  boys  say.  All  the  women  pity  and  despise 
Mose  Evans,  only  they  can't  help  understanding 
and  not  understanding  it !  And  Miss  Throop  'II 
never  have  him.  That  man 's  no  more  to  her  than 
if  he  was  a  big  live-oak  she  happened  to  pass,  no 
more  to  her  than  a  dog  or  an  ox.  She  from 
Charleston,  and  —  he  ?  It  would  kill  that  proud 
old  General.  And  there  's  that  man  Clammeigh, 
too,  out  here  once  from  Charleston.  Out  of  a 
bandbox.    What  a  cool  cowcumber  sort  of  a  fellow 


96  MOSE  EVAXS. 

he  is  !  Rich,  is  n't  lie  ?  Saw  him  at  church,  and 
looks  like  it.  But  there's  the  bell  for  supper!" 
my  host  adds,  rising  upon  his  very  L)ng  legs  and 
pu4:ting  his  cob-pipe  on  the  joist  over  the  door. 
"  I  do  believe  it  is  actually  killing  ]Mose.  Sounds 
redickerlous !  A  man  could  knock  an  ox  off  its 
tracks  with  his  fist.  Man  of  strong  sense,  too. 
Somebody  ought  to  tell  her,  and  stop  it.  They 
seem  to  like  you,  INIajor  Anderson ;  suppose  you 
stop  it.     But,  supper ;  come  !  " 

In  the  course  of  conversation  at  table,  Mrs.  Rob- 
inson tells  me,  at  lengtli,  of  the  black  woman  of 
the  Throops,  who  persists  in  considering  herself 
their  property,  because  the  Bible  says  she  is. 

"  I  tell  you,  Judy,"  my  host  breaks  in  with  en- 
ergy, "it  is  not  that  negro's  religion  at  all.  It 's 
that  ]\Iiss  Agnes  has  bewitched  her !  Slave  ?  Look 
at  that  poor  Mose  Evans !  " 


IX. 

FalVn  from  its  Maker's  hand,  so  long  ago, 

And  from  such  height,  our  world's  descending  rate, 

Like  a  dropped  star,  is  ever  swifter  still 

And  swifter.     Swifter  all  tilings  on  it,  too. 

Haste  to  their  close;  and  life,  most  swift  of  all. 

Speeds  every  day  unto  more  sudden  death ! 

I  WAS  very  busy  in  real  estate  here  and  there 
over  Brown  County,  for  some  weeks  after  Mr. 
Robmson  had  told  me  of  the  disaster  to  ]Mose 
Evans  from  the  unconscious  hands  —  I  should 
rather  say  ej-es  —  of  Miss  Agnes  Throop.  I  can- 
not reaill  how  long  it  was  after  said  conversation 
that  I  heard,  as  I  rode  into  Brownstown  one  foggy 
day,  of  the  disaster,  in  a  more  terrible  sense,  to 
the  mother  of  Mose  Evans.  It  was  Dr.  Alexia 
Jones  who  told  me  of  it,  nearly  ruuiiing  me  down 
as  I  floundered  along  throHgh  the  mud,  his  "  bright 
bay  "  in  a  foam  under  him,  a  portentous  case  of 
surgical  instruments  upon  the  pommel  of  his  sad- 
dle, lie  told  me  the  news  without  drawing  rein, 
and  Dick  Frazier  informed  me  afterwards  that  the 


98  MOSE  EVANS. 

doctor  was  only  witlilield  by  a  good  deal  of  pro- 
fanity and  physical  force  on  the  part  of  Frazier 
himself  and  others,  from  fleshing  his  maiden  steel 
upon  the  dead  woman  by  carving  her  to  fragments 
in  the  interests  of  medical  science  ! 

"  ^Irs.  Evans  is  dead!  —  yes,  sir,  —  as  a  ham- 
mer ! "  Dr.  Alexis  Jones  said  it,  as  he  joined  me, 
wath  the  keen  satisfaction  which  we  all  have  in 
telling  news,  bad  as  well  as  good ;  and  as  if,  in 
some  way,  his  personal  importance  was  augmented 
thereby.  "  Broke  a  blood-vessel  in  a  dispute  with 
Odd  Archer !  "  he  explained.  "  It  was  about 
those  cattle  of  hers  he  insisted  were  only  strayed, 
and  she  knew  had  been  run  off  by  Dob  Butler, 
that  rascally  client  of  his.  What  business  had  he 
to  be  on  her  place  talking  about  it  ?  The  court- 
room was  the  only  place  for  any  talk  about  that, 
with  judge  and  sheriff  to  keep  the  peace.  Primed 
himself,  you  bet,  with  some  of  Dick  Frazier's 
strychnine  whisky  before  he  went.  You  see,  her 
son,  Mose  Evans,  has  gone  down  to  the  '  Port ' 
Avith  a  load  of  cotton.  Odd  Archer  knew  that, 
before  he  went  to  the  house.  But  you  must 
excuse  me ;  post  mortem.^  you  see ;  glad  of  the 
chance  !  "  And,  with  a  cut  of  his  whip.  Dr.  Jones 
added  as  he  galloped  off,  "  Nobody  will  ever  know 


MOSE  EVAXS.  99 

the  facts.  The  coroner  examined  Arclier,  of  course. 
Mere  form ;  tliey  did  n't  pretend  to  believe  the 
man  even  under  oath.  A  gentlemanly  fellow ; 
but  who  would  ?  " 

From  all  I  could  learn,  in  the  excitement  that 
followed  the  painful  event,  Mrs.  Evans  flew  into 
a  violent  passion  during  her  conversation  with 
Archer  about  the  cattle,  burst  a  blood-vessel  in 
the  torrent  of  her  wrath,  fell  at  his  feet,  the  blood 
gushing  from  her  lips  upon  the  well-scrubbed  floor, 
and  died  !  The  lawyer  rushed  for  his  horse,  send- 
iucr  into  the  house  an  old  nec^ro  man  who  was 
chopping  at  the  woodpile,  no  woman  being  about 
the  place,  and  put  spurs  for  his  —  rifle  !  Not  a 
moment  of  peace  until  he  has  that  in  his  grasp, 
armed  with  two  revolvers  as  he  already  was.  Be- 
cause, having  caused  the  death  of  the  mother,  it  is 
of  the  most  pressing  importance  that  he  should 
kill,  and  at  the  earliest  moment  possible,  the  son 
also.  The  entire  question,  To  be  or  not  to  be,  was 
with  him.  To  shoot  or  to  be  shot.  Brown  County 
w^ould  very  cheerfully  have  cast  a  unanimous  vote 
for  the  last  alteniative  in  this  case.  Odd  Archer 
himself  preferred  the  other,  strange  as  it  seemed 
for  even  the  owner  thereof  to  care  for  so  miserable 
a  life! 


100  MOSE  EVANS. 

"Witli  the  ^vliole  population,  Archer  included, 
my  interest  was  henceforth  in  Mose  Evans !  Un- 
der the  circumstances  it  was  impossible  to  put  off 
the  funeral  until  the  arrival  of  the  son,  and,  Mr. 
Parkinson  officiating,  in  those  indefinite  statements 
to  which  clergymen  are  compelled  in  many  a  like 
case,  the  burial  service  was  duly  performed.  It 
was  almost  enough  to  cause  Mrs.  Evans  to  rise  in 
wrath  from  her  coffin,  —  the  confusion  throughout 
her  house,  the  very  abode,  during  her  life,  of  neat- 
ness and  housewifely  care.  All  the  region  round 
about,  male  and  female,  children  and  grown  per- 
sons, flocked  in  to  the  funeral,  bringing  upon  their 
feet  specimens  of  all  the  varieties  of  mud  through- 
out the  county.  They  pressed  to  the  coffin  as  if 
to  the  side  of  a  panther,  if  I  may  so  express  the 
actual  fact,  —  a  panther  long  famous  but  killed  at 
last.  And  this  was  the  long  secluded  and  dread 
mother  of  ]Mose  Evans,  he  as  universally  liked  as 
she  was  feared !  No  trace,  however,  of  the  wild 
animal  —  universal  disappointment  in  that  —  in 
the  face  of  the  dead !  A  sudden  return  in  the 
calm  visage  to  something,  even,  of  the  girlish 
beauty,  I  suppose,  which  had  won  the  heart  of  her 
husband  from  his  books  so  many  years  before. 
Under  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  gen- 


^rosE  EVAXs.  101 

oralities  of  ^Ir.  Parkinson,  tliere  fell  strange  calm 
upon  the  crowd.  Old  New  Hampshire  led  the 
6in<xingr  with  wonderful  success,  in  virtue  of  the 
voices  of  the  many  negroes  crowding  porch  and 
front  yard. 

AVe  escorted  the  hearse,  an  ambulance  of  Dick 
Frazier's,  stolen,  we  all  knew,  from  Confederate 
supplies,  to  the  cemetery  in  the  outskirts  of 
Brownstown ;  and,  with  the  benediction  over  the 
heaped  grave,  the  mind  of  every  person  of  the 
crowd  dispersing  homeward  ran  into  the  same  de- 
mand, ''  Mose  Evans  ?  "  The  men  present  would 
have  consented  to  the  hunting  up  and  lynching  of 
Odd  Archer,  Esq.,  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  if 
merely  for  the  excitement's  sake.  But  something 
more  than  the  unpopularity  of  the  deceased  pre- 
vented that.  Somehow,  there  was  a  unanimous 
conviction  that  the  absent  son  would  be  an}i;hing 
but  gratified  tliereby.  The  absent  son  !  I  doubt 
if  a  person  at  the  grave  failed,  as  he  stood  there, 
to  say  to  himself,  "  Just  room  between  her  grave 
and  that  live-oak  for  Mose."  I  knew  the  man 
had  to  be  shot  as  well  as  any  there  !  I  had  been 
quartermaster,  compulsory,  in  the  Confederate  ser- 
vice during  the  war,  in  a  certain  city,  and,  while 
there,  had  learned  a  lesson  in  human  nature  worth 


102  MOSE  EVANS. 

interrupting  my  narrative  for  a  moment  to  repeat. 
A  lady  in  said  city  was,  or  imagined  herself  to  be, 
insulted  by  a  Mr.  Jackson.  As  soon  as  her  letter 
detailing  the  fact  arrived,  and  her  husband  could 
get  leave  of  absence  from  building  torpedoes  at 
Savannah,  he  hurried  home  and  shot  his  foe. 
Hastening  rapidly  across  the  city  to  the  office  of 
the  dead  man's  only  son,  who  had  never  even 
heard  of  the  insult,  he  shot  him  also.  It  is  true 
one  of  the  flying  bullets  passed  through  the  head, 
by  accident,  of  a  youth  of  fourteen,  the  only  sup- 
port of  a  widowed  mother,  who  happened  to  be 
passing.  "  But  then  one  has  to  be  in  a  hurry  at 
times,"  Mr.  Archer,  to  whom  I  narrated  the  cir- 
cumstance one  day,  explained.  "  When  you  and 
the  other  gentleman  are  both  armed,"  he  contin- 
ued, ''  if  you  have  a  little  difficulty,  you  are  com- 
]Delled  to  shoot  at  the  earliest  moment,  because 
you  know  if  you  don't,  he  may ;  best  to  anticipate 
him,  you  observe  ;  procrastination  is  the  thief  of 
time,  and  something  over,  in  such  a  case !  If  you 
kill  your  man,  of  course  you  must  kill  his  next 
relative  ;  if  you  do  not,  you  run  the  same  risk 
from  him  ;  a  fool  could  see  that !  We  may  kill  a 
man  or  so,  occasionally,"  Mr.  Archer  added,  "  but, 
thank  Heaven,  we  do  not  lie  and  cheat  and  steal 


MOSE  EVANS.  103 

and  poison  people  as  is  done  elsewhere  I  "  an  em- 
phasis npon  the  last  word  making  his  meaning 
sufficiently  clear. 

jNIr.  Archer  would  have  admitted,  however,  that 
I  had  shown  Yankee  energy,  at  least,  in  my  con- 
duct following  upon  the  death  of  Mrs.  Evans. 
Leaving  Brown  County  in  going  home  from  the 
funeral,  I  had  ridden  fifty  miles  down  the  river  by 
daybreak  of  the  morning  after,  to  meet  and  warn 
Mose  Evans  on  his  way  home.  The  truth  is,  I 
had  come  by  this  time  to  take  an  interest  m  the 
man,  certainly  far  greater  than  in  any  other  per- 
son native  to  that  region.  It  was  not  merely  our 
being  thrown  together  upon  matters  concerning 
General  Throop's  new  home,  as  well  as  land  affairs 
generally.  There  was  a  something  in  him  I  find 
it  impossible  fully  to  express  by  the  phrases  sin- 
cerity, frankness,  genuine  manliness.  I  had  been 
used  all  my  life  before  to  people  who  felt  them- 
selves very  thoroughly  informed  in  regard  to  all 
things  in  heaven  and  earth,  people  who  had  read 
books,  heard  lectures,  seen  sights ;  people  who, 
young  and  old,  male  and  female,  were  like  so 
many  venerable  Solomons,  aged  queens  of  Sheba, 
knowing  everj^thing,  and  impervious  to  surprise. 
I  suppose  it  was  the  zest  of  this  ignorant  man  for 


104  MOSE  EVANS, 

information,  tlie  fresliness  of  liis  pleasure  in  all  I 
told  liini  of  tlie  outside  world,  as  new  to  liim,  al- 
most, and  as  wonderful,  as  if  I  was  on  a  visit  to 
liim  from  the  sun.  But  you  can  find  inquisitive 
ignorance  in  Africa  ;  it  was  the  original  ore  of  the 
race  in  Evans,  something  of  the  virgin  gold  of  hu- 
man nature  in  eye  and  tone  and  smile  !  I  do  not 
know  wherein  it  lay,  but  General  Throop,  in  his 
heavier  way,  was  as  much,  interested  in  him  as 
myself. 

And  so  I  went  to  meet  and  warn  him  against 
Odd  Archer,  any  letter  or  telegrams  being  out  of 
the  question.  It  was  the  noon  after  the  funeral, 
on  Friday,  I  remember,  when  I  met  my  friend. 
He  was  on  his  way  home  from  the  Port,  the  money 
for  his  cotton  in  his  belt.  Just  as  I  arrived  he 
was  finishing  his  dinner  on  the  grass  beneath  a 
tree  by  the  road-side,  his  horse  grazing,  roped  to  a 
swinging  vine  near  by.  I  had  planned,  as  I  floun- 
dered along  the  miry  road,  what  I  would  say.  My 
well-arranged  words  were,  as  is  always  the  case, 
never  once  thou^jht  of  when  we  met.  He  rose  to 
meet  me,  and  had  the  whole  story  inside  of  five 
minutes.  As  I  spoke,  he  stood  listening  to  me, 
his  full  eyes  in  mine,  erect  as  a  statue,  passing  the 
palm  of  his  left  hand  from  his  lips  down  his  beard 


MOSE  EVANS.  105 

continiuilly  Avhlle  I  spoke.  Singular  contrast  of 
my  eager  narrative  to  his  quiet  attention !  I 
ceased  my  earnest  admonitions  as  to  the  need  of 
caution  upon  his  part,  —  ceased,  because  they 
seemed  childish  before  his  grave  composure.  Be- 
yond the  first  exclamation  at  meeting,  I  do  not 
recall  his  saying  a  syllable.  As  I  finished,  he  me- 
chanically drew  first  one  and  then  the  other  re- 
volver from  its  sheath  by  his  side,  sa^  that  all  the 
caps  were  in  place,  and  then  put  them  quietly 
back,  and  proceeded  to  coil  in  the  lariat  of  his 
horse,  untying  it  from  the  vine  and  hanging  the 
coil  b}"  its  thong  behind  the  saddle.  '*  Thank  you, 
]\Ir.  Anderson.  If  you  will  please  ride  on  a  little 
I  will  join  you  after  a  while,"  was  all  he  said  as 
he  mounted.  I  confess  I  was  almost  angry,  after 
all  my  most  fatiguing  ride,  too  !  It  was  noon 
when  we  thus  parted,  and  the  night  was  almost 
upon  me,  riding  slowly  along  in  advance,  before  he 
joined  me.  I  wish  I  knew  whether  the  man  had 
been  weeping !  I  studied  his  face  as  closely  as  the 
gathering  darkness  allowed  ;  there  was  deep  sor- 
row, the  simple  bearing  of  a  child  in  grief,  but  so 
little  to  say,  beyond  thankuig  me  again  for  com- 
ing !  He  even  asked  me  one  or  two  questions 
about  General  Throop  and  our  land  matters.     I 


106  ZIOSE  EVANS. 

mentioned  casually  tliat  Mrs.  Throop  had  been 
prevented  from  attending  the  funeral,  but  that 
General  Throop  and  his  daughter  had  been  pres- 
ent. The  fact  is,  to  General  Throop  ^Irs.  Evans 
had  always  been  "  woman."  With  myself,  as  with 
Brown  County,  the  phrase  would  have  been  wild- 
cat, rather  !  We  rode  together,  now  side  by  side, 
then  one  in  advance  of  the  other,  as  the  emergen- 
cies of  the  miserable  highway  allowed,  through 
mud  and  darkness,  and  almost  mibroken  silence 
at  last,  until  ten  o'clock,  when  we  reached  the 
wretched  roadside  cabin  in  which  we  passed  the 
night. 

I  remember  eating  ravenously  of  the  pork  and 
corn  bread  and  "  big  hominy,"  which,  with  black 
coffee,  formed  our  supper  that  night.  In  spite  of 
my  remonstrance  my  companion  rolled  himself  up, 
as  soon  as  supper  was  ended,  in  his  huge  Mexican 
blanket,  and  lay  down  upon  the  puncheon  floor 
before  the  wide  fireplace,  his  broad  felt  hat  over 
his  face.  I  did  not  hear  him  make  the  least  mo- 
tion through  the  night,  and  would  be  glad  this 
hour  to  know  if  he  really  slept  during  that  dismal 
time.  As  to  myself  I  was  so  worn  out,  that,  in 
spite  of  pork  and  coffee,  I  slept  like  the  dead,  — 
slept,  although  by  some   hurry  in  the  making  of 


MOSh:  EVANS.  107 

the  bed,  tlio  corn-cobs  as  well  as  shucks  had  been 
left  therein ! 

"  Archer  is  a  gentleman,"  I  said  to  Evans  as  we 
rode  along  next  da}^  "  and  he  will  not  fire  upon 
you  from  ambush.  If  I  was  you  "  —  "I  think  I 
know  exactly  what  he  will  do,  Mr.  Anderson. 
Excuse  my  talking  so  little.  I  am  by  myself  in 
the  woods  so  much.  I  thank  you  for  coming. 
Heartily.  I  don't  know,  but  I  hope  it  has  saved 
the  man's  life.     We  will  see  now,  any  moment." 

About  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  our  road 
running  beside  the  very  edge  of  the  river,  my  com- 
panion broke  the  silence  as  we  journeyed  along, 
by  drawing  up  his  horse  and  saying  with  less  ex- 
citement than  when  he  had  called  my  duller  atten- 
tion once  or  twice  before  to  a  deer  in  the  woods,  — 

"  Yes,  sir.  There  he  is ! "  dismounting  as  he 
said  so.  I  was  dreadfully  excited,  yet  nothing 
could  be  more  chivalrous  upon  the  la\vyer's  part, 
for  it  ivas  the  lawyer.  He  had  tied  his  horse  to 
one  side  and  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  road,  rifle 
in  hand.  I  suppose  he  had  taken  for  granted  that 
his  adversary,  duly  warned,  would  have  had  a  rifle. 
To  my  surprise,  as  soon  as  the  man  saw  Mose  Ev- 
ans advancing  upon  him  without  one,  he  deliber- 
ately stooped  to  lay  his  carefully  down  upon  a  dry 


108  MOSE  EVANS. 

tuft  of  grass  beside  the  way,  and  then  stepped 
back  into  the  open  road,  a  revolver  in  either  hand, 
a  long  knife  held  by  its  blade  in  his  teeth.  As 
General  Philip  Sheridan  once  told  me  of  one  of 
his  battles,  "  It  was  beautiful !  " 

I  caught  my  friend's  horse  by  the  bridle,  think- 
ing, a  little  nervoush^,  of  Helen  and  of  coming 
bullets.  The  parties  advanced  slowly  upon  each 
other,  durin;::  the  whole    affair  neither  savinoj   a 

"  O  I/O 

single  word.  When  within  sixty  feet  of  Evans, 
Archer  raised  his  revolver  and  began  firing.  I 
heartily  wish  it  was  more  theatrical,  but  I  can  only 
add  that  it  was  all  over,  ignominiously  over,  in 
much  less  than  the  proverbial  fifteen  minutes  of 
the  battle  of  San  Jacinto.  iMose  Evans  had  not 
touched  his  own  weapons.  At  the  first  report  of 
the  lawyer's  revolver,  he  sprang  forward  !  It  was 
as  if  he  was  upon  his  enemj"  at  one  bound.  Al- 
though it  ruins  what  little  romance  there  is  in  the 
matter,  I  believe  Evans  relied,  unconsciously  to 
himself,  upon  the  unsteadiness  of  Archer's  nerves, 
owing  to  his  habits,  in  the  aim  he  would  take.  In 
the  instant  he  had  seized  his  puny  assailant  by 
arm  and  leg,  and  hurled  him  into  the  river  !  I 
laughed  aloud  like  an  hysterical  woman,  —  the 
man  flying  through  the  air,  the  splash  in  the  water, 
was  an  ending  so  sudden  ;  such  bathos  ! 


MOSE  EVANS.  109 

"lie  won't  want  to  see  me.  You  help  liim 
out,"  my  friend  said  as  he  remounted.  "  Tell  him 
the  thin"-  's  over.  He  never  meant  her  death,  you 
know.     Good  afternoon." 

Even  then,  it  flashed  upon  me  as  Mose  Evans 
rode  leisurely  away,  and  I  said  to  myself,  I  sup- 
pose the  self-mastery  of  this  child  of  nature  is 
what  he  has  been  learning  his  life  long.  In  the 
woods  ?  In  his  singular  home,  rather.  From  his 
father's  long  endurance.  From  witnessing,  all  his 
life,  his  mother's  lack  of  self-control.  How  Homer 
would  have  loved  and  sung  him  !  Leaving  my 
horse  untied,  I  ran  to  fish  the  Liw^^er  out,  and  a 
dripping,  bewildered,  bemuddied  wretch  he  was  as 
he  emerged,  by  my  assistance  ! 

I  do  not  understand  human  nature  half  as  well 
as  I  thought  I  did.  I  had  counted  upon  his  being 
utterly  crestfallen.  Not  in  the  slightest !  Before 
he  could  get  water  and  mire  off  his  face  he  was 
laughing  and  talking  as  if  intoxicated.  Possibly 
he  was.  Then  there  was  the  reaction.  Besides, 
he  knew  that  the  circumstances  of  the  case  would 
be  known  by  all  Brown  County  in  two  days,  and 
that  such  knowledge  would  restore  him  to  the  good 
opinion  thereof.  "  Laugh  at  me  ?  "  he  asked  and 
answered  in  a  breath  ;  "  of  course  they  will !     It 


110  MOSE  EVANS. 

will  get  into  the  papers  and  be  the  joke  of  the 
State.  Do  you  suppose  I  care  ?  Not  a  red !  No, 
sir.  ^Tiy,  sir,  the  thing  will  help  elect  me  next 
time  I  run  for  office.  Nothing  makes  people  like 
a  candidate  better,  yes,  and  vote  for  him  sooner, 
than  having  a  good  joke  upon  him  I  '* 


X. 

Still  to  th'  Archangel  doth  belong 

His  power  once  poured  in  joy  and  song, 

And  service  far  and  swift  and  strong ! 

Though  downward  now  his  darkling  course, 

No  pulse  is  slackened  at  its  source ! 

The  same  Archangel  as  at  first, 

His  pathway  merely  is  reversed ! 

"  When  I  hate  a  man,  he  always  sickens  and 
dies,"  my  disreputable  companion  added  in  irrele- 
vant but  unceasing  continuation  of  previous  re- 
marks, as  we  rode  into  the  outskirts  of  Browns- 
town.  "  What  I  mean,"  he  explained,  "  is  that  I 
am  particularly  cared  for ;  like  Napoleon,  I  have 
a  star."  We  had  to  enter  town  in  our  deplorable 
nllcrht,  and  were  fortunate  in  not  reaching  it  until 

dark ! 
•  AVe  certainly  would  have  been  a  sight  to  see, 
berauddied,  as  we  were,  from  head  to  foot,  and  far 
beyond  the  ordinars^  allowance  even  of  that  sec- 
tion. I  hated  it  as  the  worst  part  of  the  adven- 
ture, having  to  pii53  the  night  with  him  ;  but  there 


112  MOSE  EVANS. 

was  no  alternative,  and  so  I  dismounted  with  my 
associate  at  the  door  of  the  tumble-down  house  on 
the  edgfe  of  the  town,  which  the  man  called  his 
home,  and  which  he  invited  me  to  enter  with  the 
well-bred  courtesy  of  a  host  to  his  guest,  —  a  cour- 
tesy wliich  had,  absurd  as  it  may  seem,  its  charm. 
I  did  not  see  him  drink  an3^thing  worse  than  black 
coffee  while  we  were  there  together.  And,  after 
eating  supper,  such  as  it  was,  we  sat  the  night 
through,  drjnng  our  clothes  without  taking  them 
off,  at  the  fire  which  he  had  hastily  made  in  the 
desolate  fireplace.  I  dare  say  it  was  merely  the 
animal  spirits  of  the  man,  the  most  amazing,  I 
believe,  I  ever  knew  in  any  one,  Harry  Peters  ex- 
cepted ;  certainly  he  kept  the  same  afire  with  the 
fuel  of  alcohol,  —  inferior  to  Harry  Peters,  his  con- 
versational rival,  in  that.  Under  the  stimulus  that 
night,  possibly,  of  nothing  stronger  than  escape 
from  his  "  difficulty  "  with  Mose  Evans,  his  tongue 
ran  like  that  of  one  insane.  I  was  glad  to  sit  and 
listen,  if  merely  to  escape  getting  with  him  into 
his  one  bed. 

Yes,  all  night  did  we  sit  there,  and  you  must 
allow  my  companion  here  the  same  liberty  I  was 
compelled  to  yield  him  then  and  there.  The  fact 
is,  he  realized  to  me  much  that   I  had  read  of 


MOSE  EVANS.  113 

Aaron  Burr.  I  wish  you  could  see  the  man  while 
you  hear  him.  Slight  in  buikl,  like  his  father, 
the  eloquent  divine  ;  not  without  a  sinewy  grace 
of  carriage  and  motion  ;  with  finely  cut  features 
and  noble  forehead,  small  but  wonderful  eyes  ;  a 
fallen  angel,  worshiped  and  very  heartily  despised 
by  all  Brown  County.  One  night  some  weeks  be- 
fore, General  Theodore  Tliroop  and  myself,  seated 
unknown  to  liim  in  an  adjoining  room  in  Dick 
Frazier's  hotel,  listened  to  his  conversation  for 
liours,  as,  drunk  enougli  for  it,  he  entertained  a 
bar-room  of  loungers.  Wit,  wisdom,  folly,  filth, 
poetry  by  the  page,  deep  metaphysics,  anecdotes, 
pathos,  bathos,  —  it  was  wonderful !  Suddenly  the 
General  and  mj^self  entered  the  room  ;  the  instant 
shame  of  the  man,  the  intuitive  gesture  with  which 
he  consigned  his  companions  to  the  mire  beneath 
his  heel,  was  equally  amazing.  The  greasiness  of 
his  shabby  suit  of  black  pervaded  his  entire  per- 
son ;  a  perfect  blackguard,  a  perfect  gentleman  ! 
What  perplexed  me  most  was  tliat  a  man  witli 
such  memories  could  be  so  steadily  and  perfectly 
hapjw ! 

He  spoke  of  his  late  antagonist  at  last,  as  we  sat 
drying  ourselves  at  the*fire. 

"  ^Ir.  Anderson,  look  here,"  ran  his  torrent  of 


114  MOSE  EVANS. 

talk  ;  "  Mose  Evans  is  certainly  a  splendid-looking 
chap,  as  far  as  that  goes.  I  do  not  remember  bis 
ever  being  before  the  grand  jury  for  stealing,  gam- 
bling, or  anything  of  the  sort ;  althougli  I  do  re- 
member his  serving  both  upon  grand  and  petit 
jury,  if  only  from  the  fact  that  he  has  so  invari- 
ably found  against  me  in  my  cases,  and  in  one  or 
two  instances  more  personal.  I  always  challenge 
him,  sir,  when  offered.  His  mother  was  a  violent 
person.  The  entire  countrj^  side  had  looked  for  it 
for  years  when  she  broke  a  blood-vessel  in  that 
dispute  with  me  about  those  strayed  cattle.  I 
learned,  last  night,  before  the  boys  took  him  out 
and  hung  him  for  those  horses,  that  Dob  Butler 
did  steal  her  cattle  as  she  said ;  but  how  was  I  to 
know  then  whether  Butler  had  done  as  she  said  ? 
It  is  very  curious,  sir  ;  a  client  may  be  the  hardest 
of  cases,  may  know  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  de- 
fend him,  know  that  his  lawyer  does  not  care  a 
drink  whether  the  man  did  the  murder,  or  what- 
ever it  was,  or  not,  and  yet  that  client  will  make 
believe  to  the  last,  against  dead  evidence  and  to 
his  own  lawyer,  that  he  is  innocent !  When  it  is 
a  woman,  I  do  believe,  whatever  it  is  she  has  done, 
she  persuades  herself  thrdiigh  and  through  that 
she  did  not  do  whatever  it  was  !     Yes,  sir,  if  it 


MOSE  EVANS.  115 

was  the  killing  of  her  baby,  or  of  her  old  and 
helpless  father,  she  thinks  she  had  such  good  and 
sufficient  cause  for  it  that  she  could  not  have 
done  otherwise  —  is  an  outraged  martyr  for  being 
troubled  about  it !  I  have  been  a  lawyer  for  years, 
where  human  nature  shows  itself  as  it  is  I  tell  you, 
and  I  have  learned  this  of  my  female  clients,  they 
have  the  least  idea  of  the  rights  of  other  people, 
the  clearest  sense  of  their  own,  of  any  persons  liv- 
ing. Upon  the  whole,  you  might  have  half  the 
money  if  you  gave  me  a  male  client  instead,  if  it 
w^as  not  that  the  woman's  lawyer  always  has  the 
jury,  yes,  sir !  "  I  am  obliged  to  allow  the  inco- 
herence and  lack  of  punctuation  and  purpose  upon 
his  part,  if  the  reader  is  to  hear  Mr.  Archer  as  I 
heard  him  that  night. 

"  I  do  not  see,"  he  resumed,  "  how  I  have  got 
off  the  track  so.  As  to  Mose  Evans  ?  He  aston- 
ished me  as  he  will  the  whole  county.  I  half 
thought,  Mr.  Anderson,  the  man  an  enormous  fool. 
Look  here,  say,  I  was  one  day  selecting  a  pair  of 
boots,  on  credit,  in  New  Hampshire's  store.  Miss 
Throop  was  shopping  at  the  counter.  I  had  merely 
bowed  to  her  from  the  back  room,  —  too  much  of 
a  gentleman  to  soil  her  with  shaking  hands  ;  what 
do  angels  know  of   what  we   devils  really  are  I 


116  MOSE  EVANS. 

Evans  had  retreated  into  that  den  of  a  place  with 
me,  when  she  came  in,  buying  powder  I  remember 
he  was ;  went  away,  at  last,  leaving  the  package 
within  a  yard  of  a  fire,  hickory  and  sparking ! 
The  man  was  dazed,  dared  no  more  look  full  at 
Miss  Throop  than  at  the  noonday  sun  !  But  I 
noticed  ;  we  lawyers  notice  I  I  saw  his  eyes  fasten, 
like  a  hawk  upon  a  chicken,  on  a  piece  of  brown 
paper  slie  had  unwrapped  from  some  gloves  and 
left  lying  on  a  bolt  of  calico  upon  the  counter. 
Actually  stood  there,  when  she  was  gone,  to  gather 
up  that  paper  in  his  hand,  as  cautiously  as  if  it 
was  gold  and  he  stealing,  and  slipped  it  into  his 
breast  pocket ! 

"  The  fool,  sir,  walked  away,  leaving  that  pack- 
age of  powder  under  the  flying  sparks  !  Suppose 
it  had  exploded.  Why,  sir,"  —  and  I  noted  in  the 
reprobate  now,  as  at  all  times,  the  perpetual  refer- 
ence and  return  he  ever  made  to  himself,  what- 
ever  the  topic  ;  as  well  as  the  unceasing  allusion, 
running,  from  force  of  training,  through  all  his 
thoughts  to  things  supernatural,  —  "  why,  sir,  the 
projectile  force  of  that  powder  !  It  would  have 
blown  some  of  us  there  into  heaven,  and  onward 
in  heaven  for  ever  and  ever ;  one  man  there  in  ex- 
actly the  reverse  direction,  and  forever  too.     Heh  ? 


MOSE  EVANS.  117 

Oh,  as  to  ]\Iose  Evans,  lie  is  —  material !  I  mean 
for  a  drama,  say.  A  sort  of  stuff,  deep  and  strong 
and  very  rude,  out  of  which  Shakespeare,  for  in- 
stance, could  make  a  hero.  Books?  I  have  in 
Brown  County  a  library  of  men,  and  I  never 
weary  of  reading  them  instead.  Don't  get  sleepy, 
Anderson  ;  what  shall  we  talk  about  next  ?  How 
will  politics  do  ?  "  And  with  what  inexhaustible 
spirits  the  fellow  proceeded  to  rattle  on  upon  that 
theme  !  I  heard  little  else  all  the  time  I  was  in 
that  section,  yet  I  appeal  to  the  reader  if  I  have 
not  kept  it  out  of  these  pages  ! 

"  But  I  would  rather  hear  more  in  regard  to 
yourself,"  I  said  at  last,  for  I  was  curious  about 
the  man. 

"  About  myself  ?  "  he  replied.  "  Oh,  as  to  my- 
self. First.  I  plead  guilty  to  all  you,  Anderson, 
all  anybody,  says  against  me.  More.  I  am  a 
great  deal  worse.  'Shysters'  I  believe  law^^ers 
like  myself  in  the  great  cities  are  styled.  Let  us 
lump  it  and  be  done.  I,  Odd  Archer,  Esq.,  Mr. 
Anderson,  stand  here  up  to  —  down  to,  rather  — 
anything  the  lowest  lawyers  ever  do  !  I  want  to 
speak  fact  about  myself  as  well  as  about  others. 
I  am  in  that  mood  to-night.  Next.  I  plead  the 
extenuating  circumstance  of  talent  and  tempera- 


118  MOSE  EVANS. 

ment.  From  my  birth  I  was  regarded  as  a  cherub. 
I  am  not,  as  you  agree,  Anderson,  angeUc  in  other 
than  an  infernal  sense,  now,  but  there  are  minia- 
tures on  ivory,  —  let  me  be  rigidly  truthful,  a  min- 
iature on  something,  —  proving  my  extreme  love- 
liness of  eyes,  hair,  brow,  complexion  then.  If 
you  were  to  compare  child  and  man  you  would 
exclaim,  *  Such  a  harvest  from  such  a  seed  ?  It  is 
impossible  ! '  But,  the  fact  shows  it  is  possible. 
More.  The  very  nature  of  the  germ,  as  in  all 
creation,  is  the  cause  of  the  result.  Never  mind 
about  my  physical  beaut}^.  That  has  a  terrible 
deal  to  do  with  my  after  ruin,  but,  as  is  always  the 
case,  the  very  things  one  cannot  say,  nor  people 
prmt,  are  the  chief  causes  of  matters  !  Matters, 
sir,  perfectly  explained  by  such  things,  but  left 
otherwise  wholly  unexplained ! 

"  If  any  ladies  were  here  to-night,"  the  man 
continued,  rising  to  his  feet,  as  if  from  involuntary 
respect  to  the  very  imagination  of  such  presence, 
"  if  I  dared  venture  to  say  such  things  to  the  sex, 
I  would  remark  to  them  —  no,  sir,  not  even  in 
imao"ination  !  But  as  to  all  this  talk  about  women 
becoming  lawyers,  sitting  on  the  jury  and  the  like, 
I  will  say  it  to  you,  Anderson  ;  will  you  tell  me 
how  it  would  do  to  have  them  in  the  box,  on  the 


MOSE  EVANS.  119 

bench,  in  view  of  all  the  ugly  matters  necessaiy  to 
be  laid  before  tlieni  there  ?     I  am  told  they  are 
going  as  doctors  into  dissecting  rooms  and  hospi- 
tals, but  the  loathsomeness  of  heart  and  soul  laid 
bare  in  the  court-house  is  a  thousand  times  worse  I 
Now  I  am  nothing,  Mr.  Anderson,  but  a  black 
guard  lawyer,  yet  I  can  imagine  a  pure  and  beau 
tiful  girl,  say  my  sister,  or  my  betrothed.     Do  you 
suppose  me  such  a  villain  as  to  be  able  to  look  her 
in  the  soft,  innocent  eyes,  and  state  and  develop 
and  urge  the  vile  facts  which  make  up  so  many 
cases  in  court  ?     If  any  man,  lawj^er  or  otherwise, 
tried  it  in  the  presence  of  a  lady  of  my  acquaint- 
ance, I  would  smash  his  jaws  !    I  have  been  forced 
occasionally,  by  circumstances,  such  as  the  grand 
jury,  judge,  and  the  like,  to  drop  my  profession  for 
a  time  ;  that  would  make  me  drop  it  forever  I   Yet 
stop  a  moment,  sir  !     As  darkness  ceases  only  by 
presence  of  pure  light,  this  occurs  to  me,  possibly 
woman's  purity  must  come  into  such  close  contact 
with  foulest  darkness  !     If  the  darkness  is  ever  to 
go  !  If  so,  woman's  purity  must  be  intensely  pure  I 
I  do  wonder,  Anderson,  and  I  never  thought  of  it 
before,  if  woman,  in  virtue  of  being  distinctively 
woman,  is  the  reserve  remedy  for  the  world  !    You 
Yankees,  sir,  laugh  at  Southern  chivalry.     It  has 


120  MOSE  EVANS. 

gone  out,  sir,  with  the  Confederacy.  Five  hun- 
dred thousand  men  were  killed  in  the  war.  It  has 
thrown  up  their  value  too  much.  Not  in  the  eyes 
of  the  other  sex  alone.  We  men  have  come  to 
rate  ourselves  too  high.  Kow  can  it  be,  sir,  that 
with  a  higher  estimate  of  woman,  upon  other 
grounds,  a  nobler  chivalry  is  to  come  in  ?  Heh  ? 
But,  how  we  have  rambled  in  our  talk  !  Fact  is, 
I  'm  not  a  coward,  but  I  'm  glad  that  thing  with 
Evans  is  over.  I  see  day  is  breaking.  I  must 
have  a  drink.  I  will  go  to  Dick  Frazier's  and 
have  him  send  your  trunk,  so  that  you  can  dress. 
It  does  n't  matter  about  me.  What  a  storm  of 
curiosity  and  talk  there  will  be  over  my  fight  with 
Evans  !  You  won't  see  him  in  town  for  davs.  I 
like  it !  It  may  elect  me  to  the  bench  I  That 
Evans,  by  the  bye,  has  brain  enough  to  go  to  Con- 
gress, if  he  knew  it.  For  lack  of  education  he  is 
and  will  be  a  clod-hopper  all  his  life.  What  a 
splendid  leap  he  made  on  me  !  I  'm  glad  I  did  not 
hit  him.     I  tried  my  best  to  do  so,  I  assure  you !  " 


XI. 

The  minted  ores  do  not  compare 

"With  ores  that  still  unminted  are; 

Nor  iron  whirring  in  the  wheels 

To  iron  which  the  earth  conceals; 

Nor  Shakespeare  to  the  Shakespeare  stuff, 

The  race  possesses  full  enough, 

True  Shakespeare  still,  though  in  the  rough ! 

However  much  of  an  adept  I  may  be  in  my 
jotting  down  field-notes  while  riding  over  our  wild 
lands,  and  plotting  them  out  accurately  afterward 
for  our  company,  I  have  no  imagination.  I  dare 
say  it  would  make  me  no  better  as  a  business  man 
if  I  had.  Any  value  in  what  I  say  lies  in  simple 
narration  of  fact.  Take,  for  instance,  a  certain 
rainy  day  I  spent  in  the  store  of  New  Hampshire, 
my  old  postmaster,  philosopher,  and  friend.  That 
day  forces  itself  upon  my  pen  ;  I  cannot  get  past 
except  by  recording  it.  I  think  it  was  some  three 
weeks  after  the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Evans  and  the  en- 
counter between  Odd  Archer,  Esq.,  and  her  son. 

I  am  making  out  a  map  from  field-notes  for  our 
company,  in  the  back  room,  but  the  crowd  in  the 


122  MOSE  EVANS. 

store  increases  to  such  an  extent,  and  the  fun  be- 
comes so  uproarious  around  Harry  Peters,  that  I 
give  it  up.  It  was  for  men  land  was  made,  and 
I  turn  from  the  lesser  to  the  greater,  going  in  and 
making  myself  at  home  among  them  upon  a  soap- 
box, which  affords  me  also  something  to  whittle  at 
as  I  sit.  My  friend  the  postmaster  is  the  only 
silent  person  in  the  store.  I  call  him  my  friend, 
not  merely  because  we  are  partners  in  land ;  some- 
how, as  perfect  an  understanding  exists  from  the 
first,  between  the  old  gentleman  and  myself,  as 
between  Odd  Archer,  Esq.,  and  General  Throop, 
our  basis  being  business,  theirs  mere  sentiment.  I 
observe  that  the  postmaster  is  doing  up  coffee,  the 
supreme  luxury  there  next  to  whisky,  in  pound 
packages,  against  a  drier  and  busier  day.  While 
he  does  this  he  is  evidently  deep  in  the  interior 
counties  of  New  England  —  deaf  to  all  the  con- 
versation and  laughter,  very  often  quarrels  a  score 
strong  at  a  time,  and  fast  and  furious,  raging 
around  the  coast,  so  to  speak,  of  his  placid  ex- 
terior. 

Tliere  is  Harry  Peters  as  prime  promoter  of  the 
laughter.  He  is  only  a  poor  planter,  limp,  lame, 
weighing  under  ninety-five  pomids,  yet  Shake- 
speare  was    not    more    entirely    monarch   of    his 


MOSE  EVANS.  123 

adoring  friends  at  a  revel  than  is  Harry  of  Lis  as 
assembled  in  the  post-office.  Odd  Archer  is  pres- 
ent, of  coui-se,  and  as  usual,  whenever  these  tsvo 
are  togetlier  in  a  crowd,  there  is  sure  to  be  strong 
rivah-y  between  them  ;  the  lawyer  having  plenty 
of  talent,  stores  of  knowledge,  curve,  so  to  speak, 
and  trick  of  culture,  reinforcement  of  alcohol,  but 
all  in  vain  against  merest  nature  and  genius  in  his 
clod-hopping  rivid.  It  is,  on  their  lesser  scale, 
Ben  Jonson  as  beaten  by  Shakespeare. 

When  I  took  my  soap-box  Harry  was  just  fin- 
ishing some  tale  of  fun.  If  it  was  not  a  recital  of 
the  ducking  of  the  lawyer  at  the  hands  of  Evans, 
it  was  something,  possibly,  more  grotesque  still, 
the  life  of  that  member  of  the  bar  furnishing  mate- 
rial ample  and  ever  renewed.  The  incidents  were 
very  ludicrous,  whatever  they  were,  and  Harry, 
judging  from  the  effect,  could  not  have  told  them 
better  to  save  his  life ;  but,  amid  all  the  shouts 
of  laughter,  the  postmaster  steadily  puts  up  his 
pound  packages  as  if  there  was  not  a  soul  in  his 
store  beside  the  owner  thereof.  No  one  addresses 
himself  to  my  old  friend,  but  I  note  a  peculiar 
glancing  at  him,  now  and  then,  on  the  part  of  all. 
Something  is  in  hand  in  reference  to  him,  and  I 
therefore  observe  more  closely,  as  he  is  evidently 


124  MO^E  JSVAXS. 

unconscious  of  everything  but  coffee.  And,  now, 
Odd  Archer  launches  into  a  narrative.  It  is  of  a 
pecuharly  horrid  murder  which  had  come  under 
his  knowledge,  described  with  wonderful  power, 
and  I  forgot  ever^^thing  in  the  terror  and  wrath 
aroused  in  me  as  in  all  there  by  the  narration,  in 
which  the  lawyer  evidently  does  his  best.  I  ob- 
serve, in  the  curdled  silence  which  follows,  a  curi- 
ous glancing,  yet  again,  at  the  keeper  of  the  store. 
Had  he  actually  been  in  Brazil  at  the  moment, 
gathering  the  coffee  from  the  tree,  he  would  not 
have  been  more  unconscious  of  things,  so  far  as 
the  least  movement  of  mouth  or  eyelid  is  con- 
cerned. After  a  disappointed  pause  on  the  part 
of  the  crowd,  Harry  begins  the  story  of  the  loss  of 
his  children,  two  little  girls  and  their  brother,  in 
the  "  Bottom."  Of  course  those  present  know  all 
about  it,  for  it  was,  the  winter  before,  the  sensa- 
tion of  the  county,  but  they  listen  with  hushed 
eagerness  to  the  wonderfully  perfect  narration  of 
the  father,  as  he  lives  over  all  the  anxiety  and 
agony  of  the  mother  and  himself  during  those  four 
days.  I  find  myseK  with  moistened  eyes,  as  well 
as  the  rest,  actually  exclaiming  aloud  with  the 
others  when  the  starved  little  ones  are  found ! 
When  we  recover  ourselves  enough  to  do  so,  I 


MOSE  EVANS.  125 

observe  tliiit  all  eyes  are  glancing  again,  although 
covertly,  at  the  postmaster,  so  far  as  outer  appear- 
ances go  as  wholly  unconscious  of  them  and  of  all 
their  talk  as  before.  With  his  little,  close-cropped, 
white  head  on  one  side,  he  is  putting  up  bags  of 
coffee,  that  and  only  that ! 

I  understand  why  Odd  Archer  had  stepped  over 
to  Dick  Frazier's  for  a  drink,  when  he  begins 
again,  with  renewed  energy.  It  is  an  assault  upon 
the  Bible,  cool,  argumentative,  very  able  indeed  at 
first,  quickening  into  bitter,  blasphemous,  ferocious 
fury  as  he  proceeds.  I  had  heard  before  that  of 
all  men  a  minister's  son,  when  wicked,  had  the 
greatest  power  of  blasphemy  known,  an  energ}^  of 
moral  effect  therein  terrifying  the  weaker  among 
his  wicked  associates  ;  because  the  entire  belief 
and  meaning  derived  from  previous  training  is  put 
into  the  oaths  I  By  this  time  I  have  come  of 
myself  to  understand  that,  by  plan  beforehand, 
regular  assault  has  been  made,  for  the  last  two  or 
three  hours,  upon  old  New  Hampshire  ;  heavy  bets 
pending,  I  afterward  learn,  upon  moving  him  to 
do  or  say  something,  show  in  any  way  some  emo- 
tion !  The  frantic  violence  of  the  lawyer  as  he 
ceases  shows  his  consciousness  of  defeat.  Tlie  old 
man  has  paused  once  or   twice  from  scoop  and 


126  MOSE  EVANS. 

scales  and  coffee  sack,  even  looked  full  in  the  face 
of  the  reprobate  •v\4iile  at  the  white  heat  of  his 
harangue,  but  it  was  exactly  as  if  the  lawyer  was 
not  there  at  all :  the  pause  was  merely  to  tap  his 
forefinger  over  his  pursed-up  lips,  as,  with  eyes 
closed  now  and  then,  he  was  calculating  profits,  I 
suppose,  his  head  to  one  side. 

Odd  Archer  ceases,  exhausted,  and  universal 
lauor-hter  and  scoffinor  sets  in  at  the  defeat  of  the 
two  champions.  It  is  "  in  full  blast,"  according  to 
Brown  County  parlance,  but  there  is  instant  hush 
thereof,  and  all  movement,  even,  an-ested,  as  Ag- 
nes Throop  suddenly  enters  the  door  from  the 
rain,  and  stands  at  the  counter  asking  for  letters. 
What  heavenly  beauty  and  purity  and  grace ! 
Nothing  but  a  simply  dressed  young  lady,  with 
shrinkiniT  eves,  and  cheeks  in  which  the  soul 
comes  and  goes,  yet  these  men  are  painfully  aware 
on  the  instant  that  they  are  scoundrels,  boobies, 
louts !  Every  man,  as  soon  as  he  recovers  himself, 
manages  to  slip  away.  In  ten  minutes  every  soul 
of  them  is  gone,  really  kicked  out  of  her  presence, 
and  by  himself  !  I  tarry  by  her  side,  heartily 
ashamed  of  my  previous  company,  with  the  usual 
salutations  ;  but  I  curiously  note  that  the  post- 
master is  no  more  moved  by  the  presence  of  this 


310SE  EVANS.  127 

perfect  jewel  of  her  kind  than  he  was  by  the  men 
who  have  gone.  As  I  pass  out  of  the  door  on  my 
way  to  the  hotel,  I  notice  that  Miss  Agnes  has 
come  to  town  in  a  buggy  which  waits  for  her  at 
the  sidewalk.  ^lary  Martha  Washington,  who 
has  driven  her  young  mistress  in,  acknowledges 
my  good-day  with  severe  respect,  bringing  to  my 
mind  her  confidences  to  my  wife  long  before  in 
Charleston. 

"  I  was  trained,  INIiss  Helen,  to  believe  the  Bible 
is  God's  Word.  If  I  know  anything,  it  is  that  it 
is  clear  agen  the  abolitionists.  Two  things  I  never 
can  stand,  abolitionists  an'  free  niggers.  I  'm  too 
old  now,  to  change  !   I  can't  give  up  my  rehgion !  '* 

*'  I  was  taught,  Henry,  as  this  old  aunty  was," 
my  wife  took  occasion  to  explain  at  the  time ; 
*'and  slavery  -z^as  no  sin  at  all.  But  the  Bible 
nowhere  commanded  us  to  hold  slaves  ;  no  neces- 
sary connection  between  the  two  whatever." 

"  My  dear  Helen,"  I  made  reply,  "  a  century  or 
so  ago  one  of  the  godliest  ministers  of  New  Eng- 
land sent  a  barrel  of  rum  over  to  Africa  and  ob- 
tained a  slave  therefrom  in  exchange.  No  argu- 
ment for  the  divine  life  of  Revelation  more  self- 
evident  than  the  way  in  which,  slow  and  silent  and 
steady,  yes,  and  omnipotent  and  irresistible  as  God 


128  MOSE  EVANS. 

who  gives  it,  the  gospel  purifies  itself,  age  after 
age,  from  the  merely  human  elements  incrusting 
but  wholly  separable  from  it ;  elements  which  are 
part  of  the  gospel  only  as  my  clothing  for  the 
nonce  is  part  of  me.  No  more,  I  should  rather 
say,  than  as  the  hindering  vapors  of  our  atmos- 
phere are  part  of  the  sun.  Plenty  more  of  the 
human  to  be  purged  away  yet  from  our  skies,  but 
I  do  not  think  it  will  endanger  the  sun !  " 

All  this,  however,  is  purely  incidental.  In  the 
moment  of  speaking  to  the  colored  woman  seated 
in  the  buggy,  I  observe  Mose  Evans  standing  off 
by  himself  near  the  door  of  the  office  through 
which  Miss  Throop  has  entered  a  few  moments  be- 
fore. I  turn  to  shake  hands  and  say  a  few  words 
about  business.  To  my  surprise  he  takes  my  hand 
mechanically,  but  seems  scarcely  to  recognize  me, 
although  his  eyes  are  in  mine  when  he  speaks  ;  for 
that  is  a  peculiarity  of  ]\Iose  Evans,  the  putting 
his  entire  self  into  his  eyes  full  in  yours  when  he 
addresses  or  listens  to  you.  Hence  I  say  to  my- 
self as  I  leave  him,  I  wonder  if  the  man  can  be 
drunk  ?  But,  looking  back  after  I  have  gone  a 
little  distance,  I  see  that  he  has  walked  steadily 
enough  to  his  horse  tied  to  the  rack  across  the 
street,  and  is  in  the  act  of  mounting.     Then  all 


MOSE  EVANS.  129 

tk'it  old  ^Ir.  Robinson  had  tokl  me  flashed  upon 
my  mind  I  Agnes  Throop  I  The  absurdity,  stu- 
pidity, insanity  of  the  man  !  I  have  to  stop  once 
or  twice  before  I  reach  Dick  Frazier's  to  think  over 
what  INIr.  Robinson  had  said,  I  had  so  promptly 
and  utterly  rejected  it  all  at  the  time  I  "  I  thought 
I  understood  human  nature!"  I  complain  to  my- 
self. "Yes,  but  this  is  the  very  sublimity  of  — 
of"  — 


XII. 

'•  Tliou  fool,  the  seed  "  —  how  rings  the  cry  — 
"  Is  quickened  not  except  it  die, 
Except  it  die!    Except  it  die !  " 

I  HASTEN  to  speak  of  the  next  time  I  saw  Mose 
Evans.  I  am,  in  fact,  eager  to  do  so.  The  cir- 
cumstances were  so  remarkable. 

Some  months  had  rolled  by  since  the  day  I  had 
seen  him  hesitating,  as  if  in  a  dazed  condition,  at 
the  door  of  the  post-ofl&ce.  I  had  gone  back  to 
New  York  and  Charleston  since  then.  After  set- 
tling up  certain  business  there,  I  was  on  my  way 
back  again  to  Brown  County,  accompanied  by 
Helen,  my  wife,  who  this  time  positively  refused 
to  be  left  behind.  And  thus  it  happened  she  was 
with  me  that  day  I  reached  Bucksnort,  a  particu- 
larly unpleasant  town,  at  the  hotel  in  which  our 
stage  stopped  on  its  way  to  Brown stown.  It  was 
in  that  hotel  we  found  ]\[ose  Evans,  and  in  what 
condition ! 

I  recall  perfectly  how  we  came  to  know  of  it. 
Helen  and  myself  had  arrived  an  hour  or  so  before 


MOSE  EVANS.  lol 

sapper.  While  seated  thereat,  the  stage  arrived 
from  Brownstown,  and  the  hungry  passengers 
poured  in  upon  us,  seated  at  the  supper  table.  I 
noticed  the  lawyer,  Odd  Archer,  among  the  rest, 
and  very  drunk.  I  do  not  know  whether  he  recog- 
nized me,  but  it  would  have  made  no  difference. 
I  suppose  it  was  a  continuance  of  what  had  been 
going  on  in  the  stage  before,  but  I  observed  that 
he,  in  a  drunken  way,  forced  the  possession  of  the 
seat  next  a  modest-looking  country  girl,  one  of  the 
passengers,  nearly  opposite  Helen  and  myself. 
Even  before  the  touch  of  Helen's  elbow,  I  fancied 
the  animal  was  insulting  the  shrinking  girl,  who 
was  too  diffident  to  do  more  than  draw  as  far  away 
from  him  as  possible.  I  hesitated  to  believe  that 
the  man  could  have  degenerated  so  rapidly  from 
what  I  had  known  him  to  be  in  reference  to 
women,  as  to  be  guilty  of  any  disrespect  to  a  fe- 
male even  in  his  deepest  drunken  degradation.  A 
fleshy  old  man  who  had  come  with  them  was 
seated  at  my  side.  As  he  was  whispering  to  mo, 
'•  I  would  not  notice  him.  He  's  been  drunk  all 
along,"  I  observed  a  gross  insult  toward  the  girl 
upon  the  part  of  the  law^^er.  I  grasped  a  tumbler 
of  milk  to  hurl  it,  and  Avas  grasped  in  the  same 
moment  by  my  own  cooler  sense  in  the  person  of 


132  MOSE  EVANS. 

Helen,  my  wife,  barely  in  time  I  IIow  very  much 
better  !  A  whisper  on  ni}^  part  to  the  negro  band- 
ing me  the  wholly  indigestible  biscuits,  a  hasty 
exit  of  the  same,  the  hurried  appearance  of  the 
landlord,  himself  guilty  of  worse  things  every  day. 
Sober  during  that  special  half  hour,  so  as  to  make 
no  mistake  in  taking  the  money  for  supper,  the 
landlord  saw  the  situation  at  a  glance,  and  was 
filled  with  virtuous  wrath !  One  good  grasp  upon 
Odd  Archer's  collar  from  behind,  and  he  had 
dragged  him  off  his  seat  to  the  side  door,  and 
hurled  the  limp  wretch  like  a  half-filled  bag  of 
meal  out  of  the  entrance  and  far  into  the  night ! 
It  is  often  so  much  better  to  have  certain  thinsfs 
done  for  you  by  others  than  to  do  them  yourself  ! 
You  can  remain  quiet,  and  they  can  do  them  so 
much  more  thoroughly,  too  !  And  but  for  this,  I 
should  not  have  known  Mose  Evans  was  in  the 
house  ;  would  have  gone  on  to  Brownstown,  — 
Mose  Evans  to  another  city,  too,  quite  another, 
neither  Brownstown  nor  yet  Charleston  I  It  was 
from  the  landlord,  after  thanking  him,  supper  over, 
for  his  conduct,  that,  in  the  course  of  conversation, 
I  learned  Mose  Evans  was  up -stairs. 

•  "  Mighty  sick.  Colonel  Anderson,  I  tell  you  I  " 
The  colonel  being  instant  brevet  for  my  thanks ; 


MOSE  EVANS.  133 

and  my  friend  wiped  the  honest  sweat  of  his  late 
exertion  from  his  exceedingly  red  face,  as  he  told 
me  this,  hearkening,  with  his  bushy  head  a  little 
on  one  side,  for  any  groans  from  the  direction  in 
which  the  ejected  man  had  disappeared  through 
the  night,  as  assurances  that  he  had  not  been  act- 
ually killed  by  his  fall  from  the   battlements  of 

light. 

Yes,  there  in  the  corner  of  an  upper  room  lay 
]\Iose  Evans !  Wrecked  like  some  huge  Spanish 
galleon,  and  upon  the  most  dismal  and  desert  of 
all  inhospitable  islands !  Too  short  and  too  nar- 
row, at  least  for  him,  the  unpainted  bedstead 
creaked  and  threatened  to  tumble  at  every  turn  of 
the  writhing  sufferer  ;  its  cords  so  loose  that  the 
thin  mattress  bulged  do^vnward  to  the  floor;  no 
possibility  of  lying  in  it  unless  coiled  up  like  a  ser- 
pent in  a  bushel  measure.  Although  the  sick  man 
is  consuming  with  fever,  no  one  has  thought  to  lift 
a  window  to  assuage  his  burning,  by  letting  in  the 
at  least  milder  fever  of  midsummer  which  is  upon 
the  world  without ;  has  not  cared,  even,  to  move 
the  bed  out  of  the  corner  between  two  walls  with- 
out a  window.  And  there  lay  my  poor  friend  with 
hair,  beard,  parched  lips,  delirious  brain,  a  St. 
Lawrence  upon  his  gridiron  ;  rather,  a  soul  in  hell 
for  the  pencil  of  Dord  and  the  pen  of  Dante  ! 


134  MOSE  EVANS. 

But,  in  God's  mercy,  there  is  ever  a  Beatrice, 
too,  for  sufferer  as  for  poet.  I  had,  of  course,  told 
my  wife  the  whole  story  long  before,  so  that  I  had 
but  to  take  her  into  the  room  and  say,  "  Helen, 
dear,  Mose  Evans !  "  for  her  to  understand  the 
entire  affair.  She  had  entered  the  western  wilds 
with  me,  burning  silently  for  some  opportunity  to 
show  how  heartily  she  could  do  and  endure  toward 
the  making  with  me  there  of  the  immense  fortune 
in  lands  which  I  had  in  view. 

I  must  add  that,  largely  to  her  clear  intuition  in 
business,  we  have  done,  by  the  bye,  very  well  in- 
deed, ours  being  considerably  more  than  the  six 
feet  by  two  of  soil  usually  assigned  by  moralists, 
with  the  three -score  and  ten  of  years,  to  mortals. 

Amazing,  the  despotism  of  a  young  and  lovely 
woman,  especially  if  in  the  interest  of  the  sick  !  In 
two  hours  Helen  had  revolutionized  this  "  Buck- 
snort  Travelers'  Rest,"  as  our  Hotel  was  mis- 
named. Such  obedience  our  landlord,  rapidly  re- 
turning to  his  c<?ndition  of  normal  drunkenness, 
had  never  shown  to  his  pale-faced  and  miserable 
wife.  The  two  or  three  pert  mulatto  women 
about  the  hotel  sufficiently  explained,  apart  from 
the  drink,  the  pallor  and  emaciation  of  tlie  nomi- 
nal mistress  of  the  house.     Wives  have  like  expe- 


MOSE  EVANS.  135 

riences  the  world  over,  but  I  dare  not  say  a  syl- 
lable here  as  to  the  effect  upon  a  Southern  wife  of 
a  negro  concubine ;  yet  I  will  record  how  I  loathed 
that  Helen  should  even  superintend  the  labors  of 
such  helpers  for  the  sick  man  !  But  she  did  not 
know ;  and  at  last  we  had  the  sick  man  bathed, 
clothed  in  clean  linen,  with  hair  and  beard  combed, 
upon  the  best  bed  in  the  coolest  corner  of  the  only 
decent  room  in  the  house,  —  our  own ;  and  in  con- 
sequence, he  was  soon  sweetly  asleep.  "  He  looks 
like  a  dying  lion,  Henry,"  my  wife  whispered,  as 
we  rested  at  last  by  his  bed.  "  Say  a  wounded 
gladiator,"  she  continued.  "A  woman  might  envy 
him  those  masses  of  beautiful  hair.  But,  have 
you  not  romanced  a  little  about  him  ?  " 

''  Listen  to  the  simple  facts,"  I  said,  "  and  see  if 
it  is  not  nature  itself,  like  Chevy  Chace  and  the 
Vicar  of  Wakefield !  "  and  I  went  over  again  the 
story  of  his  parentage,  utter  seclusion  in  the  woods, 
amazing  ignorance,  termagant  mother. 

"  Ah,  Henry,  it  is  his  desperate  falling  in  love 
with  Agnes  Throop  which  interests  you  so  in  him, 
and  I  don't  blame  you  !  "  said  my  wife.  "  I  dare 
say  she  was  to  him  as  the  first  European  woman 
was  to  the  savages  of  America  when  she  landed. 
Ever  read,  dear,  that  old  story  of  Inkle  and  Ya- 


136  MOSE  EVANS. 

rico?  The  amazement  of  wonder  and  love  with 
which  the  savage  girl  adored  and  clung  to  the  god 
in  flesh  from  Europe  ?  " 

*'  Yes,  and,  if  I  am  only  a  land  agent,  I  remem- 
ber, too,  that  the  god  was  a  dastardly  scoundrel, 
sold  the  girl  "  — 

"  Never  mind  about  the  rest,"  Helen  adds  has- 
tily. "  As  to  Agnes  Throop,  you  are  right ;  the 
thing  is  too  preposterous  even  for  romance,  the 
man  is  deranged.  Agnes  Throop  !  And  such  a 
person  as  this !  Insanity !  Besides,  you  forget 
there  is  another  lover,  '  a  priory  attachment,'  as 
Mr.  Weller  said." 

"  Yes,  i\Ir.  Archibald  Clammeigh,"  although  I 
doubt  if  that  gentleman  would  care  to  be  an- 
nounced to  an  audience,  say,  as  the  next  speaker, 
in  exactly  the  tones  in  which  his  name  was  now 
mentioned. 

And  so  we  sat  comparing  the  two  men  in  si- 
lence. I  dare  say  the  long  and  singular  suffering 
of  the  one  lying  before  us  helped  our  illusion,  for 
such  a  colossus  comes  down  with  a  crash  when  it 
does  fall.  The  poor  fellow  was  sadly  reduced  in 
flesh.  Of  course  it  was  all  imagination  on  our 
part  that  the  traces  of  suffering  upon  his  face  were 
softened  by  a  pui-ity  and   patience   greater  still. 


MOSE  EVANS.  137 

Romeos  and  King  Leai-s,  Cordelias  and  Ophelias, 
never  had,  you  know,  any  more  existence  than  the 
Ariels  and  the  Pucks !  Or,  if  they  did  have,  they 
have  gone  out  forever  with  Shakespeare  and  stage- 
coaches.    Or,  is  it  so  ? 

''  But,  you  observe,"  I  thought  aloud  to  Helen 
after  a  little,  "  that  is  the  trouble  with  this  poor 
fellow.  He  has  never  lived  in  Mobile,  or  wintered 
at  the  Pulaski  House  in  Savannah,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  lesser  civilization  of  Fifth  Avenue,  or  Bos- 
ton. The  man,"  and  I  pointed  to  him  as  if  he 
were  that  far  off,  "  actually  lives  in  the  age  of  — 
Elizabeth  ?  Why,  Helen,  he  is  a  contemporary  of 
Abelard.  For  anything  he  ever  saw,  or  knew,  I 
do  not  see  why  Mose  Evans  is  not  of  the  age  of 
Achilles,  even  Abel."  I  frankly  confess  here  that 
I  did  garnish  my  conversation  when  with  my  wife 
'  more  freely  from  such  reading  as  I  have  had  than 
I  thought  expedient  generally  and  elsewhere.  She 
liked  such  things,  you  observe,  at  least  I  supposed 
so:  one  should  not  be  forever  and  everywhere 
merely  a  land  agent. 

"  It  is  all  because  you  think  he  is  so  desperately 
in  love,  dear,"  slie  now  replied,  "  nor,  even  then, 
would  he  seem  so  much  to  others.  We  have  n't 
been  long  married,  you  know  I  "  She  said  it,  but 
did  n't  mean  it,  of  course,  my  wife. 


138  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  And  Mr.  Archibald  Clammeigli,  we  are  under 
no  illusion  as  to  him,  genial,  generous  soul  of  honor 
that  he  is !  "  I  say.  "  What  a  singular  coinci- 
dence, the  conflict  of  two  such  opposites  for  such 
a  woman,"  I  add,  saddened  by  the  moan  of  the 
sleeping  man.  "Everything,"  I  continued,  after  a 
pause,  "  birth  can  do  for  a  man  has  been  done  for 
bis  Grace  the  Duke  of  Clammeigh  ;  no  birth  at 
all,  hardly,  in  the  case  of  this  hap-hazard  native  of 
the  wilds.  Thorough  education,  and  no  educa- 
tion. European  travel,  and  never  out  of  a  cypress 
swamp.  All  that  wealth  and  society  can  do  for 
the  one,  and  this  man  as  ignorant  of  civilization 
even  as  Hercules  !  "  I  lower  my  voice,  under  the 
finger  of  Helen  laid  on  my  moustache,  to  add,  "  I 
may  be  romantic,  being  lately  married  and  to  a 
witch,  but,  think  of  Agnes  Throop,  of  her  Charles- 
ton betrothed,  and  —  look  at  this  man ! "  Because, 
there  was  that  in  Mose  Evans  which  deeply  im- 
pressed us  !  As  to  ]\Ir.  Clammeigh,  he  would  have 
passed  out  of  my  mind  like  the  dead,  had  he  not 
been  our  company's  Charleston  lawyer.  But  it 
was  his  relation  to  Agnes  Throop  which  brought 
him,  at  this  singular  juncture,  so  vividly  to  mind. 

At  this  moment  the  invalid  stirs,  moans,  mur- 
murs, without  opening  his  eyes. 


MOSE  EVANS.  139 

"  Cologne,  if  you  please." 

"Can  you  guess  why  ?  "  I  whisper  to  my  wife 
as  she  bathes  with  cologne  brow,  hair,  beard ; 
"  the  silliest  thing  in  the  world  !  " 

"  Agnes  ?  " 

"  And  he  had  never  even  heard  of  it  before." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?  " 

"  As  1/ou  know  it !  The  mother  in  me,  I  sup- 
pose." 

But  here  the  Bucksnort  doctor  enters  the  room, 
bringing  an  aroma  of  whisky  and  tobacco.  He 
has  beard  of  matters,  and  is  a  little  awed  by  the 
change  of  things,  in  the  scrupulously  dignified 
stage  of  intoxication.  From  him  we  learn  that 
Mose  Evans  has  been  sick  three  weeks,  consumed 
by  fever,  would  not  take  the  physic,  not  the  least 
hope  now  of  his  recovery. 

I  could  not  but  be  struck,  as  the  doctor  spoke, 
with  one  thing  which  I  had  observed  often  before  : 
here  was  a  regularly  educated  physician,  and,  I 
dare  say,  from  the  East  years  before,  yet  he  had 
fallen  into  the  jerky  dialect  of  the  region  as  com- 
pletely as  had  Dob  Butler,  or  Odd  Archer,  Esq. 
I  sometimes  fear  my  long  association  out  there 
with  such  people  has  affected  even  my  manner  of 
speaking.      But   then,  you  know,  Paris   has   its 


140  MOSE  EVANS. 

peculiarity  of  speech,  so  has  Edinburgh,  possibly 
Boston. 

"  Has  he  talked  much  in  his  delirium  ?  "  I  ask. 
The  bloated  Galen  looks  at  me  with  curiosity,  and 
replies,  "  Not  one  word !  Can  you  explain  it  ? 
Old  friend,  I  see.  It  relieves  nature,  talking  does, 
like  weeping,  for  instance.  Not  one  word  !  So 
much  the  worse  for  him  !  Veiy  remarkable  case  ! 
The  man  evidently  has  some  trouble,  but  has  bot- 
tled himself  up,  hermetically  sealed  himself!  I 
wonder  what  it  is  ?  Killed  somebody,  I  suppose  ! 
Humph !  He  '11  soon  be  out  of  the  reach  of  the 
law,  or  Judge  Lynch  !  " 

I  assure  the  doctor,  as  we  converse,  after  a  while, 
in  the  hall  outside  the  room,  that  he  is  mistaken 
in  his  conjectures,  as  I  tell  Helen  afterward  that  I 
will  myseK  make  the  doctor  false  in  his  prophe- 
cies !     Please  Heaven ! 

"  I  said  he  did  not  talk,  I  mean  about  himself. 
One  queer,  very  queer  insanity  he  had,"  the  doc- 
tor proceeds  to  inform  me,  and  the  remembrance 
seems  to  sober  him  a  little.  "  He  got  some  of  the 
young  fellows  hanging  round  to  read  his  Bible  to 
him  when  he  first  lay  sick.  Grown  man,  fine-look- 
ing man  like  him,  and  I  suppose  can't  read  "  — 
great  contempt. 


MOSE  EVANS.  141 

Simple  truth  obliges  me  to  repel  this  last  asser- 
tion, ^lonths  ago  Mose  Evans  had  acquired  that 
useful  art,  and  had  been  engaged  a  goodly  part  of 
every  day,  as  well  as  far  into  the  night,  in  devour- 
ing, as  the  old  postmaster  told  me,  all  the  gram- 
mars, geographies,  histories  New  Hampshire  could 
obtain  for  him  from  the  East  by  mail.  Giving  to 
the  work  the  energies  of  manhood,  as  well  as  an 
intellect  far  beyond  the  average,  it  was  incredible, 
old  New  Hampshire  told  me,  the  progress  he 
made.  The  sick  man  had  his  visitors  read  to  him 
for  their  benefit ;  even  had  he  been  strong  enough 
for  the  exertion,  they  would  have  howled  at  the 
suggestion  of  having  the  Bible  read  to  them  by 
him,  or  by  any  other  man. 

"  Preachers  are  scarce  articles  in  this  region  ! " 
the  doctor  continued.  "  It  was  very  kind  in  the 
young  fellows  to  read  the  Bible  to  him.  They 
got  so  ashamed  of  it  at  last,  however,  everybody 
laughed  at  them  so,  you  know,  that  they  could  not 
stand  it,  gave  it  up  !  And  that  poor  fellow  would 
persist  in  saying  his  prayers,  sometimes  kneeling 
in  his  bed  when  he  could  not  get  up,  clasping  his 
hands  over  his  beard  so,  and  saying  them  to  him- 
self when  he  could  n't  kneel  even  in  his  bed.  The 
room  had  always  been  full  of  men  smoking,  play- 


142  HOSE  EVANS. 

ing  cards,  before,  to  keep  him  company,  you  see. 
Oh,  they  left ;  could  n't  begin  to  stand  it !  " 

"  Was  that  his  insanity  ?  " 

"  Not  so  much  that.  This.  He  made  me 
promise  him  I  would  let  him  know  in  time  before 
he  died.  '  What  for  ?  '  I  asked,  after  I  had  prom- 
ised. '  You  are  a  hard  set  about  here,'  he  said. 
'  I  know  you  won't  care  for  anything  I  can  say 
now.'  I  do  believe,"  the  doctor  added,  "  the  man's 
intention  was  to  have  in  all  the  people  about  the 
place  and  give  them  a  regular  sermon.  Singular 
notion,  was  n't  it  ?     Actual  fact,  sir ! 

"  The  only  way  I  can  explain  it,"  the  doctor 
continues,  opening,  as  he  speaks,  the  door  of  the 
room  across  the  hall  from  which  we  had  rescued 
Mose  Evans,  "  is  that  it  was  in  this  room,  his  room 
till  you  moved  him,  that  it  all  took  place  !  " 

"  What  took  place  ?  " 

"  You  have  n't  heard  ?  Why,  this  !  There 
had  been  a  wonderful  time  of  it  at  a  camp-meeting 
out  of  town,  ever  so  many  of  the  boys  up  at  the 
altar.  Some  of  the  men  here  said  it  was  time  to 
stop  it.  So  they  held  a  regular  sacrament  service 
in  this  room,  singing,  praying,  preaching,  tobacco 
for  the  bread,  whisky  for  the  wine,  just  for  dev- 
iltry !     At  the  close  of  it,  tlie  make-believe  par- 


MOSE  EVANS.  143 

son's  revolver  went  off  by  accident,  shot  the  next 
man  through  the  heart !  He  was  laugliing  when 
he  fell,  and  the  bother  was,  they  could  n't  get  the 
laugh  out  of  his  face  !  A  laughing  corpse  in  his 
coffin  !  It  broke  that  crowd  up  quicker  than  any 
benediction  you  ever  heard.  It  was  the  day  your 
friend  got  here.  I  suppose  he  meant  that !  Only, 
he  was  crazy  from  fever  and  his  trouble,  whatever 
it  is.  But  won't  you  go  down  town  and  take  a 
drink  ?  The  water  about  here  is  limestone,  and 
will  be  sure  to  derange  your  bowels  ;  come  !  " 

To  a  degree  wholly  beyond  my  control,  my 
experiences  were,  as  you  have  been  pained  to  ob- 
serve, chiefly  among  the  lower  elements  of  the 
Southwest  at  that  day.  If  you  suppose,  therefore, 
that  the  same  are  other  than  the  weaker  and 
lesser,  as  well  as  worse,  portion  of  the  population 
there,  you  are  greatly  mistaken.  No  more  culti- 
vated and  thoroughly  excellent  peoj^le  in  every 
sense,  than  are  to  be  found  even  in  the  Brown 
Coupties  of  the  Southwest ;  pure  jewels,  the 
brighter  for  their  very  setting,  in  many  cases.  I 
have  had  wide  experiences,  and  must  add  that,  if 
driven  to  choose  between  the  log-cabin  and  the 
brown  stone  front  for  sterling  goodness,  I  regard 
myself  as  safest  in  selecting,  like  Portia's  lover, 
the  less  imposing  casket  of  the  array. 


XIII. 

The  boomerang  th'  Australian  sends, 
The  bomb  which  to  its  zenith  tends, 
The  stream  which  to  Niagara  flows, 
The  wind  which  into  cyclone  blows, 
Like  comets  at  per'helion  swerved, 
All  Force  at  last  is  duly  curved ; 
And,  rounded  as  is  life  from  sleep, 
Its  utmost  energy  doth  keep 
Ketuming  from  elliptic  sweep ! 

Helen  agrees  with  me  when  we  talk  over  those 
days  at  the  Bucksnort  Hotel,  as  we  often  do,  that 
it  was  the  most  remarkable  thing  we  ever  knew  ! 
You  are  thoroughly  informed  in  regard  to  Ignatius 
Loyola  lying  wounded  to  death  in  his  tent,  with 
his  volumes  of  the  Lives  of  the  Saints  ?  Well, 
you  know  what  came  to  him,  and  to  the  world  up 
to  date,  of  that !  Joan  of  Arc  among  her  sheep, 
INIohammed  in  his  cave,  are  but  the  same  story 
over  again.  So  of  the  remarkable  revolution  in 
this  Titan  of  ours,  this  prehistoric  savage.  I 
abhor  mere  rhetoric,  but  I  would  like  to  speak,  if 
I  could,  of  the  soul  of  this  child  of  nature,  seething 
and  surging  in  him,  as  fresh  and  wild  and  forceful 


MOSE  EVANS.  145 

as  did  the  conflicting  elements  of  cliaos  when  God 
first  began  to  move  upon  it.  The  fact  is,  the 
awakened  nature  of  the  man  had  so  wrought  upon 
his  body,  even,  that  the  backwoodsman  was  but  a 
huge  infant,  exhausted  as  by  crying  —  for  the 
individual  in  question  is  too  matter-of-fact  to  be 
at  all  rhetorical  about !  I  do  believe  another  day, 
possibly  hour,  and  Helen  and  myself  would  have 
been  too  late.  But  we  understood  him,  handled 
him,  saved  him  as  a  mother  would  a  child  !  May 
I  be  allowed  to  remark  that  we  have  both  had,  in 
consequence,  a  firmer  faith  than  before,  in  a  prov- 
idence as  special  to  us  as  is  our  care  toward  and 
over  our  little  children. 

"  The  boys  there  at  Brownstown  used  to  say 
old  New  Hampshire  was  so  mean  he  'd  weaken  his 
well  water  before  he  'd  give  a  feller  a  drink,  and 
it  was  a  lie  :  well,  I  'm  as  weak  as  that  water  !  " 
Mose  Evans  said  to  us,  as  his  good  morning,  about 
ten  days  after  we  had  taken  him  in  hand.  "  Take 
a  patent  as  a  scarecrow,  heh  ?  " 

And  he  was  a  sight  to  see  !  Like  all  his  com- 
rades out  West,  wont  to  sleep  on  the  prairie,  or 
upon  a  blanket  spread  out  on  the  puncheon  floor 
of  the  cabin  before  the  fire,  Mose  Evans  used  no 
pillow   or   bolster  —  lay   perfectly   flat   upon   his 


146  iMOSE  EVANS. 

back  ill  bed ;  a  cause,  by  the  bye,  of  his  erect  car- 
riage and  open  chest,  some  of  us  narrow-breasted 
men  and  women  Avould  do  well  to  remember. 
Very  prostrate  he  was,  the  yellow  beard  flowing 
like  an  inundation  over  the  blanket  drawn  up,  out 
of  respect  to  Helen,  to  the  chin.  Set  like  a  pict- 
ure in  the  mass  of  hair  and  beard,  his  emaciated 
face  —  eyes  large  and  hollow,  brow  broad  and 
white  —  resembled  rather  some  medallion  of  a 
former  age.  "  I  am  alive  !  "  It  ^j^as  gravely  an- 
nounced by  him  that  morning  after  certain  hope- 
ful salutations  and  suggestions  on  our  part.  "  I 
intend  to  live  !  I  am  going  to  get  well.  I  am 
going  to  live  more  than  I  ever  did  before.  You 
will  see."  It  was  not  merely  the  child-like  grav- 
ity of  the  statement.  I  am  far  from  denying  that 
Mose.  Evans  was  grateful  to  Helen  and  myself.  I 
do  not  remember  his  saying  so,  we  all  took  it  for 
granted.  But  there  was  this  as  part  of  the  amaz- 
ing change  in  the  man  since  I  had  last  seen  him. 
He  had  been  simply  an  intelligent,  kindly  dis- 
posed Ne"wfoundland  dog  when  General  Throop 
and  myself  had  first  met  him,  long  before,  at  his 
cabin  and  elsewhere  about  Brownsto^NTi.  You 
would  have  had  the  idea  of  him  then  as  of  a  mag- 
nificent ox  that  would  not  hook.     Once  or  twice 


MOSE  EVANS.  147 

General  Tliroop  had  rested  his  rifle,  for  the  Gen- 
eral's hands  trembled  those  days  a  good  deal,  upon 
Mose  Evans'  oaken  shoulder  to  shoot,  when  we 
were  out  early  of  mornings  after  wild  turkeys,  and 
he  was  nothing  on  earth  but  a  log,  a  walking 
stump,  to  us  and  to  himself  then,  at  best  merely 
"  noble  material  for  the  making  of  a  man,"  as  the 
General  had  often  remarked  to  me.  Then  !  not 
now  ! 

"  Old  New  Hampshire  often  talked  to  me  that 
way,"  Mose  Evans  continued,  the  morning  of  our 
conversation  with  him,  but  without  a  particle  of 
explanation.  "  Not  when  any  of  the  boys  were 
about.  No.  When  I  sat  on  a  nail-keg  by  his 
counter,  Saturday  nights,  every  soul  drunk  and 
gone  home.  He  had  his  little  bit  of  a  Bible  in  an 
old  desk  of  his  in  the  back  room.  Boys  called 
that  room  New  England,  —  fully  as  big,  they  said. 
That  Saturday  night  special !  Yes,  locked  up  and 
had  me  back  there  !  Never  laughed  in  his  life, 
they  say.  How  that  old  man's  tears  did  run 
down,  that  night !  Hailstorm  ?  Yes,  he  can 
pray  some.  Two  good  miles,  if  the  wind  lies,  or 
is  in  your  direction,  they  say.  The  postmaster 
only  whispered.  But  it  sounded  to  me  louder 
than  Hailstorm  !  " 


148  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  Don't  you  tliink  you  are  talking  too  much  ? 
You  know  you  are  very  weak.  You  can  say  all 
you  like  another  time."  It  is  Helen's  soothing 
suggestion.  And  let  me  uncover  part  of  this 
photograph  by  adding,  for  what  it  is  worth  in  the 
interest  of  simple  truth,  Mose  Evans  had  eaten 
his  breakfast  just  before  !  Lest  that  is  not  under- 
stood, I  will  add  that  breakfast  meant,  w^ith  Mose 
Evans,  coffee  !  Coffee,  without  milk,  and  more 
cups  than  I  like  to  say.  As  in  every  cabin  in  his 
region,  Mose  Evans's  old  black  and  battered  coffee- 
pot never  was  cold  day  or  night,  the  year  around. 
Vilely  inhospitable  the  meanest  there,  if  they  did 
not  offer  you  a  tin  cup  of  coffee  before  you  had 
been  in  the  cabin  or  camp  twenty  minutes.  Ori- 
ental hospitality  in  two  senses  of  the  word.  It 
strikes  me  as  a  question  here  whether  coffee  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  death  of  Mose  Evans's  old 
schoolmaster  of  a  father  ;  with  the  terrible  temper 
and  final  bursting  of  a  blood-vessel  on  the  part  of 
his  mother  ?  I  do  not  know.  Nor  ^do  I  know 
whether  it  affected  Mose  Evans  in  his  feeHng  and 
talk  that  day.  I  only  mention  it  as  a  part  of  the 
evidence  for  the  jury,  as  a  la\vyer  would  say. 
Coffee,  too,  is  one  of  the  implements  made  by 
Infinite  Love  for  its  uses,  as  much  so  as  wheat. 


MOSE  EVANS.  149 

"  *  You  get  converted,  Mose,  and  get  New 
Hampshire's  property,'  the  boys  said,"  our  patient 
continued,  paying  attention  only  by  resting  his 
hollow  eyes  upon  my  wife's  face  whenever  she 
spoke  ;  and  then,  turning  them  away,  he  persisted 
in  looking  toward  the  future,  and  altogether  over 
our  heads.  "  They  were  mistaken  !  What  did  I 
want  of  his  money  ?  What  did  I  want  to  buy  ? 
Land  ?  It  belongs  to  me  now  up  and  down  the 
river  so  far  I  never  even  try  to  stop  people  split- 
ting their  rails  off  of  it,  making  their  clapboards, 
and  the  like  ;  squatting  on  it,  for  all  I  know. 
Stock  ?  I  never  get  a  chance,  even  with  my 
brand,  at  half  my  colts  or  calves.  Nothing  I 
wanted  out  of  his  money,  that  /know  of  !  Then, 
I  mean. 

"  Strange  how  it  all  came,  like  Muscadine 
grapes,  in  a  bunch,"  our  sick  man  continued  after 
some  minutes  of  thought.  "  There  is  Mr.  Parkin- 
son. My  father,  too,  he  must  have  talked  to  me 
when  I  was  a  child.  Pre-haps.  And  Hailstorm. 
Only  there  was  too  much  thunder  for  the  light- 
ning. Then  he  always  cried  so  at  the  end,  washed 
you  away  like,  a  fellow  would  run  for  shelter. 
Little  I  could  understand  of  Mr.  Parkinson  when 
I  first  knew  him.     He  was  like  that  fool,  Alex 


150  MOSE  EVANS. 

Jones,  with  his  doctor's  talk,  every  word  a  yard 
long.  Green  from  their  school,  both  of  them.  I 
managed  to  understand  as  he  got  warm,  toward 
the  close,  moonshine  done  and  day  come.  When 
he  stopped  preaching,  began  talking  to  me,  I  could 
understand.  I  do  believe  that  parson  went  hunt- 
ing with  me,  camping  out  at  night  on  purpose. 
Never  mind  about  all  that !  "  I  had  never  heard 
the  man  talk  as  much  in  all  our  intercourse  before. 
It  may  have  been  his  physical  weakness,  the  tran- 
sition state,  the  desperate  emergency  of  the  poor 
fellow ! 

"  And,  then  "  —  Mose  Evans  got  so  far  after  a 
silence,  onl}^  to  stop.  You  will  say  I  write  ro- 
mance, a  thing  I  detest.  Suppose  you  had  seen 
the  color  suffusing  his  face,  the  light  breaking  in 
his  eyes  and  over  his  entire  manner  as  he  lay 
there,  the  man  so  small  yet  so  large ! 

"  Then,  she  came."  Helen  said  it  for  him  after 
a  pause.  "  Agnes  Throop.  I  have  known  her  for 
years,"  my  wife  added.  "  And,  although  Agnes 
is  a  lovely  girl  in  some  resjDects,  I  do  not  believe 
in  her  as  some  people  do  !  "  Quietly  and  firmly. 
I  suppose  Helen  said  it  as  a  medicine.  Sincerely 
thought  it,  for  no  woman  is  deluded  about  any 
other  than  a  man.     The  Martha  of  Goethe  was  no 


MOSE  EVANS.  151 

more  infatuated  about  Margaret  than  was  Mephis- 
topheles. 

"  Yes,  ma'am,  she  came,"  Mose  Evans  said  after 
a  long  pause.  I  cannot  describe  tone  or  manner. 
It  would  have  hurt  Helen  if  it  had  not  amused  her 
so,  the  man's  utter  folly,  that  her  eyes  filled  with 
tears  of  pity,  respect,  affection,  for  the  sick  sim- 
pleton !  In  Agnes,  Helen  felt  it  was  her  sex  this 
Scandinavian  of  thousands  of  years  ago  so  adored. 
The  woman's  eyes  rested  a  moment  on  me,  saying, 
Ah,  Henry,  if  you  but  believed  in  me  like  that ! 
But  then,  I  am  of  this  nineteenth  centuiy.  I  have 
business  that  drives  me  like  a  mule  from  morning 
to  midnight,  —  occupies  my  time  so.  This  Mose 
Evans  had  nothing  whatever  to  do,  had  no  more 
idea  of  time  than  people  had  in  earlier  ages,  than 
a  Bedouin  has  now.     And  it  was  his  first  love. 

"  Yes,  she  came,  ma'am."  A  contempt  for  all 
my  wife  could  say  or  know  of  Agnes  Throop,  as 
he  repeated  the  words,  which  was  simply  perfect. 

If  there  had  not  been  a  soi-t  of  grandeur  as  mat- 
ter of  course  as  morning  in  it,  I  declare  I  would 
have  been  irritated  at  the  way  in  which  this  man 
ignored  Helen  and  myself  I  Had  Helen  and  my- 
self been  but  a  brace  of  babies,  he,  lying  upon  his 
bed,  could  not  have  had  less  reference  to  us  in  all 


152  MOSE  EVANS. 

his  words  and  manner.  The  man  spoke,  felt,  cer- 
tainly afterward  acted,  as  from  depths  in  himself 
with  which  we  had  nothing  to  do.  There  was  a 
look  in  his  eyes  as  entirely  over  our  httle  heads 
and  far  away  as  if  we  were  weeds  about  his  feet ! 

"  It  all  came  together,"  he  added  after  a  while. 
"  I  was,  before  it  all  —  What  was  I  ?  I  was  like 
a  bear  asleep  all  winter  in  a  hollow  tree.  Worse. 
Never  mind,  it  all  happened  together,  like  spring ! 
Old  New  Hampshire.  Mr.  Parkinson.  Perhaps 
my  mother's  going ;  I  never  thought  of  that  be- 
fore. I  never  knew  there  was  a  world  we  are 
going  to  Hve  in  after  this  !  "  turning  his  eyes  upon 
us,  with  peculiar  emphasis  upon  the  I ;  "a  real, 
sure  enough  world  after  this,  and  one  that 's  go- 
ing to  last  for  ever  and  ever.  An  actual,  sure 
enough  God,  a  real  person,  mind,  like  you  and  me. 
Greater,  of  course,  than  us,  as  the  sky  is  greater 
than  a  prairie.  I  never  once  thought  of  such  a 
thing !  As  to  what  they  tell  me  that  God  Al- 
mighty did,  coming  into  this  world  on  purpose  for 
such  a  thing,  say,  as  I  was,  living  here,  dying  here 
—  never  mind  !  That  is  just  the  thing  I  can't 
talk  about,  for  one.  But,  it  was  the  finding  my- 
self out,  as  well  as  Him,  I  look  at !  It  is  the  com- 
ing all  on  a  sudden  to  know  who  I  am  !     What  I 


MOSE  EVANS.  153 

may  be  yet,  here  in  this  world.  And  in  that  other 
world  for  ever  and  ever  !  This  man,  77ie!  "  and  he 
lifts  his  eyes  solemnly  to  us,  quietly  pressing  his 
hand,  already  lying  there,  upon  his  bosom  as  he 

speaks. 

*^  My  dear  Mr.  Evans,"  my  wife  endeavors.  ''  If 
you  talk  so  much  you  will  have  brain  fever  again. 
You  are  as  weak  as  water ;  you  said  so  yourself. 
Do  stop  and  go  to  sleep  a  little." 

"  Let  me  tell  you,  ma'am,"  Mose  Evans  said, 
slowly,  after  listening  with  his  large  eyes.     ^'  Once, 
why  that  is  another  of  the  things  that  came  to- 
gether.    I  'd  clean  forgot  it !     About  a  year  ago, 
a  tree  fell  on  me.     At  night.     I  had  cut  it  down 
for  the  bear  in  the  top.     It  pinned  me  down  in 
between  some  rocks,  no  man  with  me,  nor  like  to 
be.     I  was  held  down  flat,  could  n't  stir,  like  I  am 
in  this  bed.     My  mind  was  that  much  the  more 
quick.      I   thought   more    and  brighter  than  for 
years,  all  in  the  six  hours  before  Harry  Peters 
happened  along,  going  to  a  wedding  in  the  Bot- 
tom.    I  know  I  am  — as  weak!     But  if  ever  I 
had  horse  sense,  it  is  to-day.     Oh,  well,  I  won't 
talk.     But  I  have  laid  out  on  the  prairie  August 
nights,  a  coal  or  so  of  fire  down  in  a  hole  by  me, 
and  my  coffee-pot  on  that,  for  fear  of  drawing  Ca- 


154  MOSE  EVANS. 

manches,  —  laid  flat  on  the  grass  looking  up  at  the 
skies,  thinking  what  a  tre-mendous  creation  it  is, 
Tvho  made  and  keeps  it  going,  all  He  did  and  is 
doing  for  me,  who  I  am  and  what  I  may  yet  be  ! 
And  then,  yes,  she  came  !  I  had  been  months 
studying  such  matters,  never  dreamed  of  anything 
of  the  kind  before.  That  Sunday  at  church,  the 
day  Hailstorm  preached.  I  was  sitting  there  ! 
I  'd  no  more  idea !  She  was  cominsc  in.  I  looked 
up  just  as  a  horse  would  do  from  his  trough.  The 
moment  I  saw  her  she  —  she  i^roved  it  all ! '' 

It  is  a  pity,  the  reader  may  have  said  before 
this,  that  the  Mr.  Anderson  who  tells  us  this  story 
could  not  make  his  fiction  more  probable.  How 
is  it  possible,  you  say,  that  a  man  born  and  living 
all  his  Hfe  in  a  swamp,  and  unable  to  read,  could 
use  the  language  put  in  Evans's  mouth  ?  Mr. 
Parkinson,  Helen,  and  myself  have  discussed  that 
objection,  for  the  manuscript  has  been  read  aloud 
at  my  house  of  evenings,  while  Mr.  Parkinson  was 
East  soliciting  money  for  his  church  in  Bro-svns- 
town.  AVe  have  altered  and  corrected  our  state- 
ments in  so  many  ways,  to  secure  even  verbal  ex- 
actness, as  to  weary  me  to  death,  for  one,  of  the 
whole  undertaking.  In  the  very  nature  of  the 
case  we  did  not  take  down  the  exact  syllables  from 


MOSE  EVANS.  155 

the  lips  of  any  of  the  parties  of  this  simple  narra- 
tive. Yet  we  have  init  their  meaning,  their  in- 
tent, in  words  as  near  those  they  used  as  we  can 
remember ! 

But  how  little  can  you,  reader,  understand  of 
Mose  Evans  lying  there,  not  seeing  his  face,  hear- 
ing his  voice.  I  cannot  help  if  facts  seem  improb- 
able to  you  because  I  am  not  Dickens  in  the  de- 
.  lineation  thereof.  As  a  commonplace  man  of  the 
Avorld  I  will  say  this,  however,  that  I,  who  person- 
ally knew  Mose  Evans,  understand  better  than 
before  the  revolution  befalling,  say,  Luther  in  his 
cell.  Heaven  uses  not  coffee  nor  wheat  nor  the 
other  agencies  to  which  I  alluded  merely,  it  uses 
every  one  of  us  for  some  purpose  ;  why  not  this 
Agnes  Throop,  as  a  force  silent  as  that  of  the  mag- 
net, if  you  say  so,  for  the  lifting  of  this  inert  mass 
of  a  man  ?  I  do  not  think  that  the  run  of  a  year's 
transaction,  of  our  land  company,  for  instaiy^e, 
either  embraces  or  explains  the  entire  universe. 
Tilings  happen  I  The  life  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  before 
and  after  proves  that  something  must  have  taken 
j)lace  during  his  trip  to  Damascus,  —  something 
out  of  the  common !  Poor  Sir  John  Falstaff, 
to  change  the  illustration  exceedingly,  learned 
whether  or  no  Prince  Hal's  coming  to  the  crown 


156  MOSE  EVANS. 

left  said  Prince  as  he  was  before ;  some  change 
between  Gadshill  and  Agincourt !  I  did  not  mean 
to  tire  you  with  all  this ;  surely  you  have  known 
instances  convincing  you  that  a  man  is  capable  of 
a  revolution,  as  well  as  France. 

"  Mr.  Evans  "  —  my  wife  begins,  during  the 
conversation  from  which  I  have  wandered. 

"  Mose  Evans,"  that  invalid  corrects  her,  very 
respectfully. 

"  Mr.  Mose  Evans,  I  want  you  to  listen  to  me," 
my  Helen  proceeded  to  say  with  the  firm  sweet- 
ness which  will  characterize,  I  suppose,  the  entire 
faculty  of  woman  physicians  and  surgeons  coming 
in. 

"  Yes,  ma'am."  For  the  patient  is  perfectly 
powerless,  big  as  he  is. 

"  I  do  not  want  to  pain  you,"  my  wife  proceeds, 
"  but  my  husband  here  has  told  me  the  whole 
story  of  your  infat  —  your  fool  —  your  mistake. 
So  far,  I  mean,  of  course,  as  Miss  Agnes  Throop  is 
concerned.  A  great,  strong  man  like  you  should 
be  ashamed  of  yourself !  If  this  goes  on  it  will 
derange,  or  kill  you.  I  would  not  be  a  baby  if  I 
were  you !  Now  I  want  to  cure  you.  I  can  cure 
you  of  your  madness.  But  you  have  talked  too 
much  to-day.     We  will  speak  about  it  again  to- 


MOSE  EVANS.  15T 

morrow,  when  you  are  stronger.     Good-by,  now. 
Come  Henry." 

"  As  you  please,  ma'am,"  our  sick  man  says,  we 
rising  to  leave,  and  says  it  very  composedly. 

^'  It  is  positively  provoking  !  "  Helen  remarked 
to  me  that  afternoon  in  our  own  room,  when  I  had 
come  in  from  a  little  business  I  had  down  street. 
"  That  Mose  Evans  of  yours  is  a  perfect  fool ! 
Agnes  Throop  is  no  more  an  angel  than  I  am. 
I'll  cure  him  !  But  it  provokes  me,  how  set  he  is 
in  his  ignorance.  Did  you  notice  how  cool  he  was 
when  we  left,  as  if  it  did  not  matter  what  I  could 
say 


■  ?" 


XIV. 

He  joumers  to  Damascus  Saul, 
He  journeys  from  Damascus  Paul ! 

Yet  all  his  days  the  man  is  twain ; 

Both  Saul  and  Paul  he  doth  remain. 
"  Oh  wretched  man !  "  from  each  he  flies  — 
"  Who  shall  deliver  me?  "  he  cries; 

A  dual  man  until  he  dies! 

Since  that  night  when  our  landlord  flung  Odd 
Archer  from  the  supper-room,  he  had  passed  as 
completely  out  of  my  mind  also  as  he  then  had 
out  of  the  door.  When  my  wife  and  myself  came 
from  Evans's  room,  after  our  conversation  just 
recorded,  the  door  of  the  apartment  immediately 
across  the  hall,  and  from  which  we  had  rescued 
our  poor  friend,  happened  to  stand  open,  and  I 
caught  passing  sight  of  some  one  in  the  same  bed 
from  whose  slough  Evans  had  been  plucked  ;  and 
at  the  same  moment  a  well-known  voice  ex- 
claimed, — 

"  I  say,  Anderson  !  Colonel  Anderson  !  "  for  I 
had  every  grade  of  title  out  West,  according  to 
my  standuig  with  the  person  speaking.     So,  let- 


MOSE  EVANS.  159 

ting  Helen  pass  on,  I  halted  a  moment  m  the 
doorway.  Merely  the  tip  of  his  dissipated  nose 
appearing  among  the  disordered  bed-clothing, — 
Odd  Archer,  of  course  ! 

"  You  here  ?  "  I  demanded. 

"  Had  a  fall.  Arm  broken.  As  if  you  did  not 
do  it !  "  the  lawyer  remarks. 

''  I  do  it  ?  " 

"  So  the  landlord  tells  me.  You  might  have 
known  I  was  not  responsible.  Threw  me  out  of 
the  room.  The  landlord  tells  me  he  was  too  late 
to  stop  you.     What  was  it  ?  " 

Without  replying,  I  went  below  in  search  of 
said  master  of  the  house.  It  was  of  no  use.  He 
was  but  beginning  to  sober  with- view  to  supper 
money  from  the  coming  stage.  Besides,  I  passed 
his  pallid  wife  on  the  stairs,  and  had  neither  heart 
nor  revolver  for  any  "  difficulty  "  with  the  man. 
And  the  landlord  was,  in  a  sense,  but  telling  the 
truth  ;  he  had  been  but  the  tongs,  so  to  speak, 
with  which  I  had  disposed  of  the  obnoxious  indi- 
\adual.  I  had  no  intention  at  all,  when  I  left  his 
room,  of  seeing  Archer  again,  but,  on  second 
thought,  it  does  not  do  for  a  man  in  business  to 
cut  himself  utterly  off  from  any  other  man  about 
him  whatsoever.     There  is  no  telling,  in  reference 


160  MOSE  EVANS. 

even  to  the  most  despicable  or  insignificant  person 
living,  but  that,  and  at  any  moment,  he  may  be- 
come, in  the  rapid  and  unexpected  complications 
of  business,  a  dangerous  enemy  or  a  powerful 
friend.  Much,  too,  as  I  detested  the  miserable 
scamp,  for  my  soul  I  could  not  help  liking  him. 

"  You  did  perfectly  right,"  he  said  that  same 
night,  Tvhen  I  had  told  him  the  facts  of  his  con- 
duct. "  A  woman  !  And  in  the  presence  of  your 
wife !  I  deserved  all  you  did,  sir,  and  more, 
though  I  would  rather  you  had  done  what  you  did 
with  your  own  hands.  They  put  so  much  strych- 
nine in  the  whisky.  General  Anderson !  A 
woman !  And  unprotected !  I  was  deranged. 
No,  sir,  you  could  not  have  done  otherwise.  I 
knew  the  landlord  lied,  or  I  would  not  have  called 
you,  —  would  have  shot  you  as  soon  as  my  arm 
had  healed.  Very  strange,  how  pervasive  you 
Northern  people  are  !  You  were  present  when 
Mose  Evans  had  that  difficulty  with  me,  you  re- 
member. Permeating !  Pervasive  !  Now  the 
bars  of  slavery  are  down,  I  suppose  you  Yankees 
will  New  Englandize  the  continent !  " 

"  Certainly  !  We  landed  at  Plymouth  to  do 
that.  And  we  intend  to  hammer  and  shape 
America  according  to  our  notion,  that  we  may  rev- 


MOSE  EVANS.  161 

olutionize,  with  this  repubUc,  the  whole  world  !  " 
I  repHed,  for  the  vivacity  of  the  man  was  infec- 
tious. Are  the  springs  of  his  unwearying,  inex- 
haustible happiness  in  his  body  or  mind  ?  I  asked 
myself.  It  was  phenomenal  that  this  wretch,  who 
should  be  the  most  miserable  of  men,  was  always 
as  radiant,  to  outer  appearance,  at  least,  as  an 
angel !  There  he  lay,  battered,  bruised,  burned 
out  by  alcohol,  undermined  in  his  very  marrow  by 
debauchery ;  possessing  hardly  a  penny  in  the 
world,  certainly  not  a  friend  who  would  give  a 
copper  to  have  him  live  ;  blasted  in  every  memory 
of  the  past,  with  no  gleam  of  hope  for  the  future  ; 
yet  his  rat-like  eyes  were  glittering  with  joy  as 
well  as  life  !  I  know  no  more,  at  last,  of  human 
nature  than  I  do  of  Sanskrit !  It  takes  the  Being 
who  made  the  heart,  the  most  wonderful  of  all  his 
worlds,  to  understand  it ! 

How  the  man  rattled  on  !  He  did  not  care  in 
the  least  which  way  the  conversation  turned. 
*'  Yes,"  he  said,  after  speaking  upon  almost  every 
other  topic,  falling  back  at  last,  as  he  invariably 
did,  in  the  end,  upon  himself  and  his  own  experi- 
ences. "  I  was  a  remarkable  child.  I  told  you  so 
before.  You  know  the  children  of  distinguished 
ministers  always  are  more  bright,  petted,  accu.'> 


162  MOSE  EVANS. 

tomed  to  society,  than  average  children.  The 
trouble  with  me  was  that  my  father,  being  so  very 
distinguished  as  the  pastor  for  thirty  years  of  a 
leading  city  church,  was  too  much  a  great  divine 
to  be  a  father  at  all.  A  purer-hearted,  more  un- 
selfish, more  affectionate,  more  perfectly  exem- 
plary man,  even  in  his  securest  privacy,  never 
lived.  But  what  time  did  he  get,  do  you  suppose, 
Anderson,  to  be  a  parent  ?  The  tinkle  of  his 
door-bell  was  almost  as  unceasing:  as  that  of  a 
sleigh  in  mid-winter.  What  a  Noah's  Ark  our 
house  was  I  Book  agents  ;  people  in  the  pressing 
interest  of  a  hundred  societies  ;  persons  coming  to 
be  married,  and,  at  least  by  the  proxy  of  their 
friends,  to  be  biuied ;  husbands  requiring  a  ten 
minutes'  conversation,  lasting  an  hour,  to  the 
effect  that  if  their  pastor  did  not  see  and  talk  to 
their  wives,  they  could  stand  it  no  longer,  and 
there  must  be  a  separation ;  and  wives,  staying 
twice  as  long,  to  urge  the  same,  with  floods  of 
tears,  about  their  husbands.  Young  men  in  refer- 
ence to  young  ladies  —  stop  !  I  bear  in  mind  per- 
fectly a  young  lady  who  laid  before  my  father, 
never  noticing  me  playing  dominoes  under  the 
parlor  table,  this  case  in  regard  to  her  betrothed  : 
'  John  wanted  me  last  night  to  lay  my  hand  on 


MOSE  EVANS.  163 

our  parlor  Bible,  and  solemnly  make  oath  that  I 
loved  him.  Now,  my  dear  pastor  '  (I  remember, 
Anderson,  what  a  modest,  beautiful,  lady-like  girl 
she  was,  and  how  eagerly  she  looked  at  my  father 
through  her  tears,  her  veil  on  one  side),  '  dear  Dr. 
Archer,  my  mother  is  dead,  and  pa  don't  care  ; 
ou(/7it  John  to  ask  me  that  ?  He  knows  I  love  him 
with  all  my  heart,  but  he  says  he  cannot  marry 
me  unless  I  will  sivear  I  do !  I  never  swore  in 
my  life  !  Child  as  I  was,  the  embryo  lawyer  in 
me  was  aware  it  was  only  a  trick  of  the  scoundrel 
to  get  off  from  his  engagement  because  her  father 
had  lost  money,  or  he  had  found  a  richer  girl !  " 
and  here  Mr.  Archer  paused,  only  to  begin  again. 
"  When  a  man  has  a  household,  Anderson,  of  two 
thousand  souls,  —  souls^  mind,  —  and  has  to  fit 
them  for  eternity  as  well  as  for  time,  how  can  he 
devote  himself  to  his  two  or  three  children  ? 
When  the  children  of  such  a  man  turn  out  well, 
as  they  very  often  do,  the  most  effective  piety  of 
the  distinguished  father  lies  in  accomplishing  that  I 
I  don't  want  to  bore  you  to  death,  Anderson,"  he 
paused  again  at  this  point  to  remark. 

"  Oh,  go  on,  I  am  quite  interested,"  I  said,  for 
I  had  no  desire  to  talk  ;  the  velocity,  so  to  speak, 
of  the  man  wearied  me  from  trying  to  say  any- 


164  MOSE  EVANS. 

thing.  And  I  am  satisfied  the  acquaintance  of 
General  Throop  and  myself  had  unloosed  in  him 
thoughts  which  had  been  repressed  for  years  in 
liis  Brown  County  burial.  "  Even  leave  out  all 
my  father's  engagements,"  he  continued ;  "  take 
his  choir,  for  instance  !  The  bellows-blower  out 
of  sight  is  not  the  only  person  of  whom  no  one 
knows  or  cares,  by  whom,  really,  all  the  music  is 
produced.  It  is  the  pastor,  sir.  Musical  people 
are  so  sensitive  ;  only  by  unceasing  and  most  deli- 
cate tact  did  my  father  prevent  harshest  discord 
around  the  organ.  And  religious  people,  sir,  are 
the  most  tensely  strung  of  all  people  ;  only  by  the 
perpetual  power  of  a  deeper  piety  did  my  father 
control  and  impel  them,  controlling  to  impel.  I 
must  and  will  say,  as  an  entire  outsider,  Anderson, 
that  piety  is  a  force  !  We  have  enough  of  science 
among  the  politics,  and  receipts  for  making  best 
butter  in  our  papers  out  there,  for  me  to  have 
read  something  upon  the  subject.  Not  having  a 
particle  myself,  I  know  religion  to  be  an  actual 
force  ;  a  something  which  hurls  that  old  New 
Hampshire,  for  instance,  —  my  father,  too,  during 
all  my  knowledge  of  him,  —  as  I  hurl  a  brick  ! 
The  unscientific  thing  about  it  is,  you  cannot  cor- 
relate it  with  —  I  mean  it  never  runs  into  greed, 


MOSE  EVANS.  165 

ambition ;  physical  energy,  apart  from  and  dead 
against  these.  The  philosophers  trace  all  known 
force,  don't  they,  to  the  smi  ?  Here  is  an  ac- 
knowledged force,  seems  to  me,  traceable  to,  and 
demonstrating  the  unknown  and  the  unknowable 
God.     See,  Anderson  ?  " 

I  merely  assented  by  a  nod,  and  he  was  off 
again. 

"  Because,  you  know,  life,  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal, the  highest  force  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted, is  precisely  that  force  which  science  fails 
to  track  and  comprehend.  Now  religion  is  but  a 
sort  of  stronger  life  from  God.  There  is  gravity, 
too,  which  contradicts  all  laws  of  correlation  and 
conservation.  Scientists  say  gravity,  holding  and 
hurling  all  worlds  from  a  central  sun,  in  vii-tue  of 
its  attraction,  —  attraction,  mind,  —  is  at  once  the 
strongest,  broadest,  most  incomprehensible  force 
known.  They  had  better  class  the  direct  power 
of  the  Deity  upon  the  soul  with  gravity,  say,  and 
let  it  alone  I  But  I  am  talking  about  myself,  a 
subject  which  I  understand,  however,  far  less  than 
I  do  science  even. 

"  The  trouble  is,  I  was  lost  among  my  father's 
crowd  —  two  thousand  —  of  children.  The  patri- 
arch Jacob  was  not  a  circumstance  to  him.     He 


166  MOSE  EVANS. 

would  have  me  in  his  study,  at  my  book  or  blocks, 
while  he  was  at  his  sermon  for  Sunday.  As  he 
warmed  to  it,  I  was  out  of  existence  to  him.  He 
was  very  eloquent,  and  I  have  watched  him  write, 
how  often  !  All  cool  and  concordance  at  the 
beginning  of  a  sermon,  tearing  up  sheet  after 
sheet  and  starting  again,  then  the  pen  would 
begin  to  fly,  the  light  would  come  to  his  eyes,  he 
would  repeat  aloud  while  writing.  Sometimes  I 
have  stopped  from  my  play  to  wonder  at  him 
writing  hke  lightning,  with  the  tears  rolling  down 
his  cheeks  and  dropping  upon  the  paper  as  he 
wrote.  Often  he  would  straighten  himself  up  in 
his  chair,  both  hands  stretched  out  in  earnest 
argument,  the  pen  in  one  of  them,  and  say  to  me 
building  houses  across  the  floor,  '  O  undying  soul ! 
how  can  you  resist  the  logic  of  love  omnipotent  as 
that ! '  or  something  of  the  kind,  his  face  aglow 
Hke  that  of  an  angel.  Suddenly  a  tap  at  his  door, 
and  our  black  Corrilla  would  peep  in  and  say, 
'  Oh,  Mass  Austin,  I  'se  so  sorry,  but  gen'l'man  in 
parlor,  say  lie  must  see  you,  on'y  five  minits  !  ' 
When  I  add  that,  arrested  in  mid  career,  my 
father,  the  tears  still  wetting  his  cheeks  or  the 
light  of  victorious  argument  sparkling  in  his  eyes, 
would  say,  '  Oh,  bother  I '  it  was  not  in  anger,  but 


MOSE  EVANS.  167 

in  pure  sorrow  ;  and  it  was  beautiful,  —  for  I  was 
glad  to  run  down  with  liini,  —  yes,  beautiful,  his 
courtesy,  even  cordiality,  to  a  perfect  stranger, 
demanding,  very  often,  that  he  should  subscribe 
for  one  of  those  gorgeously-gilded  wood-illustrated 
good  books,  for  which  a  minister  has  as  much  use 
as  a  skilled  carpenter  has  for  a  toy  saw  !  Even 
when  my  father  would  lie  on  the  lounge  in  the 
sitting-room,  on  the  rare  evenings  he  did  not  go 
out,  in  the  brief  intervals  between  visits,  while 
he  played  with  his  children,  his  mind  was  on  some 
pressing  case  in  his  church,  or  he  would  keep 
saying  to  us  seated  on  his  knees,  '  Yes,  darling,  oh 
yes,'  while  he  jotted  down  a  memorandum  or  so 
for  his  next  sermon.  His  church  prospered,  but 
his  children  perished  !  " 

"  Eli,  as  of  old  !  "  I  interjected  here. 

"  And  I  Hophni  and  Phineas  rolled  into  one, 
yes  !  "  and  the  lawyer  turned  himself  a  little  in 
his  rat-like  burrow  among  the  dirty  bedclothes  to 
continue,  "  only  it  was  an  over-occupied  Samuel, 
in  this  case,  not  Eli  at  all.  Samuel's  scoundrel 
sons  were  judges,  you  remember,  that  is,  lawyers 
fully  developed,  overturning  by  their  rascahty  the 
theocracy  of  the  Hebrews  and  bringing  about  a 
monarchy  instead  I 


168  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  The  other  guilty  party,"  he  added,  "  was  my 
equally  innocent  mother.  All  along  she  had  her 
hands  full,  if  merely  to  keep  our  heavy  expenses 
in  such  bounds  as  not  to  worry  her  husband,  for, 
like  all  eloquent  men,  he  had  an  insufficient  idea 
of  the  immortal  value  of  a  dollar,  a  soul  being, 
instead,  his  standard.  She  was  an  invalid,  too. 
Besides,  she  died  when  I  was  ten,  —  absorbed 
herself  then  among  the  church  in  heaven  as  my 
father  was  in  that  on  earth !  Well  for  church, 
well  for  parents,  but  what  about  me  !  Look  at 
the  influence  of  Miss  Throop  upon  Mose  Evans  ! 
I  tell  you,  Anderson,  I  never  had  the  firm  white 
hand  of  a  pure  woman  upon  me,  since  my  mother 
died  :  and  God  in  heaven  knows  the  sort  of  in- 
fluence the  other  kind  of  women  exert,  as  power- 
ful in  another  direction  !  " 

There  was  so  long  a  pause  here  that  I  supposed 
the  man  had  exhausted  himself.  He  winced  a 
little  as  he  raised  his  arm,  encumbered  by  splints 
and  bandages,  with  his  other  hand,  and  added  after 
a  while,  — 

"  Oh,  never  mind  the  dirty  details.  Paul  said. 
By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am ;  and  I  was 
just  about  saying,  By  lack  of  the  grace  of  God,  I 
too  am  what  I  am !     But  I  am  as  under  oath  to 


MOSE  EVANS.  16^ 

speak  actual  fact,  and,  jack-leg  lawyer,  disreputa- 
ble, intemperate,  and  ever^^thing  else  that  I  am 
to-day,  I  know,  as  well  as  a  man  can  know  any- 
thing that,  with  all  my  capacity  and  opportunity, 
I  could  and  should  have  been  very  different  from 
what  I  am.  I  do  not  understand  why  Heaven  left 
me  to  the  grip  of  evil  influence  when  I  was  such  a 
mere  child,  ardent,  ignorant,  wax  to  the  handling, 
—  all  I  am  to-day  the  growth  of  that !  Sparks 
which  should  have  slept  in  the  soul  for  ten  years 
longer,  blown  by  the  lips  of  our  negroes  into  con- 
suming fires  —  poor,  miserable,  utterly  helpless 
child !  "  The  man  was  weeping,  pathos  in  his 
tones  and  manner  such  as  I  fail  to  be  able  to  de- 
scribe. Some  moments  passed  before  he  contin- 
ued more  gravely,  "  ^lind,  sir,  I  am  speaking 
solely  of  myself ;  mine  may  be  an  exceptional  case. 
Nor  would  you  have  ever  heard  me  say  all  this  if 
I  had  not  been  trapped  so  in  this  sick-bed "  — 
strong  profanity  —  "  and  nothing  to  do  but  talk. 
Yet  I  know,  as  well  as  you,  sir,  that  the  unmiti- 
gated scoundrel  I  am  to-day  is,  at  last,  of  my  own 
making !  Any  jury,  any  God,  would  hold  me 
personally  responsible  and  punish  me,  and  justly, 
as  all  my  conscience  agrees !  I  do  not  understand 
beyond  this  why,  while  I  take  an  interest  in  every 


170  MOSE  EVANS. 

other  client,  —  the  greater  the  scamp  the  deeper 
the  interest,  —  of  m^'self,  Anderson,  as  my  worst 
client,  I  am  tired  to  death  and  throw  up  the  case ! 
Why,  sir,  I  am  as  thoroughly  disgusted  with  my- 
self as  you  can  be." 

"And  yet,"  I  remarked  after  a  long  silence, 
*'  you  are  so  strangely  happy,  Mr.  Archer,  gener- 
ally, at  least  "  — 

"  Temperament,  sir  !  Talent,  —  if  I  dared  say 
it,  —  genius,  sir  !  and,  did  you  know  it  ?  the  high- 
est genius  is  merely  spinal  disease :  Robert  Hall, 
for  instance.  Dare  say,  sir,"  he  added,  "  Satan 
himself,  by  yery  force  of  character,  has  a  certain 
sort  of  joy  !  People  fling  me  off  from  them  with 
a  shudder,  as  they  would  a  clot  of  filth  from  their 
hand  !  I  am  so  mired  through  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble the  hand  of  my  mother  can  ever  touch  me 
again.  I  dare  not  kill  myself  ;  I  was  taught  to 
believe  about  the  after  life,  that  I  shall  be  for 
ever  and  ever  myself  still,  you  observe  !  Drunk  ? 
"What  is  left  me  but  to  get  the  drunkest  drunk 
possible  ?  With  all  that,  you  say  true,  I  am  al- 
ways happ3^,  very  happy  even  while  miserable. 
Genius,  sir,  is  joy !  an  infernal  sort,  I  acknowl- 
edge, in  my  instance  !  " 

And  yet,  when  I  hailed  the  opportunity  and  was 


MOSE  EVANS.  171 

about  to  enter  upon  conversation  which  might  pos- 
sibly benefit  him  —  • 

"  Bah  !  "  he  suddenly  exclaimed  with  total  and 
inconceivable  change  of  manner,  "  what  a  fool  I 
am !  you  a  land  agent  and  brought  to  tears,  and 
that  by  a  jack-leg  lawyer  !  How  do  you  know  I 
liave  n't  been  merely  lying  to  you  to  kill  time. 
But,  as  a  gentleman,  I  have  n't.  The  man  is  dead, 
let  us  talk  of  something  else  ! 

"  Now,  Anderson,"  he  continued,  every  trace  of 
seriousness  gone,  happy  as  a  lark,  the  facile  face 
overflowing  with  vivacity,  "you  have  been  in  Car- 
olina so  long,  I  wonder  you  have  not  asked  the 
Brown  County  news.  I  am  just  from  there,  you 
know." 

"  General  Throop  and  family  are  well,"  I  re- 
plied ;  "I  have  had  a  letter  to-day  from  him ; " 
for  I  saw,  as  even  his  own  father  would  have  seen, 
that  it  was  useless  to  try  to  talk  seriously  to  him 
then,  and  bided  my  time. 

"  iSIagnificent  man!  Reminds  one,  with  his 
portly  person  and  white  head,  of  a  magnolia ! 
Mrs.  Throop,"  the  lawyer  continued,  ''  is  a  lady. 
I  am  surprised  she  does  not  leave  religious  fanati- 
cism to  Northerners  —  ah,  excuse  me.  Our  South- 
ern ministers,  at  least,  are  as  orthodox  as  they  are 


172  MOSE  EVANS. 

eloquent !  Miss  Throop  I  respect  and  admire  too 
much  to  approach.  Have  you  any  such  ladies 
North,  sir  ?     Ah,  excuse  me,  Mrs.  Anderson  "  — 

"Is  a  Southern  lady,  Mr.  Archer ;  but  you 
speak,"  I  continued  with  heat,  "  without  the  slight- 
est knowledge  of  the  North.  I  decline  to  converse 
upon  the  subject !  " 

"  Pardon  me,"  my  companion  replied  with 
his  indescribable  air  of  good  breeding,  although 
swathed  to  the  chin  in  the  bedclothing,  "  it  is  im- 
possible for  me  to  offend  upon  that  theme.  I  may 
not  have  told  you,  but  I  studied  law  at  Cambridge. 
Besides,  many  of  my  friends  in  Carohna  are  mar- 
ried to  ladies  from  the  North.  Ladies  more  beau- 
tiful, intelligent,  charming  in  every  sense,  I  never 
met.  I  am  compelled,  however,  to  add,  neither  I, 
nor  you,  sir,  ever  met  a  lady  of  the  remarkable 
magnetism,  if  I  dare  so  speak,  of  Miss  Throop, 
South  or  North.  My  only  objection  to  the  North- 
ern ladies  married  South,  whom  I  met  during  the 
war,  was  the  excess,  I  almost  said  exceeding  vio- 
lence of  feeling  against  their  former  section  ;  inva- 
riably so,  and  surely  they  are  not  to  blame  for 
that !  But,  pardon  me.  Did  General  Throop  say 
anything,"  he  continued,  "  about  Mose  Evans  ?  " 
And,  as  he  says  it,  the  speaker  reverts  from  the 


MOSE  EVANS.  173 

man  of  breeding  and  society  to  the  "  low-down  " 
law}^er  in  the  cross-examination  manner  of  the 
question. 

*'  Merely  that  he  had  made  himself  very  useful, 
so  useful  that  he  regretted  he  had  so  suddenly  left, 
because,  the  General  supposed,  of  his  mother's 
death,  though  taking  place  some  time  before. 
Harry  Peters  rents  the  place,"  I  added,  and  de- 
sired to  change  the  subject.  I  had  no  intention 
this  slippery  person  should  be  mixed  up  in  Mose 
Evans's  matters  if  I  could  help  it.  "  How  is  Mr. 
Parkinson  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Terribly  in  love  with  Miss  Throop.  He  had 
better  make  up  his  mind  to  one  of  the  fat  Miss 
Robinsons.  All  he  has  to  do  is  to  marry  her  part 
of  the  plantation  and  be  comfortable  for  life.  Do 
you  know  how  Mose  Evans  was  taken  sick  ?  "  the 
lawyer  asked  eagerly. 

"  Some  form  of  typhoid  "  —  I  began. 

"  Shows  the  difference  between  us.  You  look 
at  men  only  with  reference  to  land.  Well  you 
came  when  you  did.  Drugged,  sir.  It  was  well 
known  the  man  had  money  when  he  left  Browns- 
town.  Has  n't  he  told  you  how  he  was  waylaid 
along  the  road  ?  Narrow  escape,  I  tell  you.  That 
is  why  I  came  down.     No  one  can  help  liking  the 


174  MOSE  EVANS. 

man.  If,  after  that  matter  with  his  mother,  I 
could  "  — 

"  Drugged  ?  " 

"  By  a  Methodist  preacher.  Of  course  he  was 
not  a  preacher  of  any  sort ;  a  brother  of  Dob  But- 
ler. Oh,  I  know  him ;  have  defended  him,  too, 
you  see ;  dressed  up  in  a  long  coat  and  longer  face 
for  the  purpose.  They  found  out  Mose  Evans  was 
a  religious  man.  That  rascal  actually  read  Script- 
ure, sang  hymns,  and  prayed  with  him !  There 
is  an  organized  gang  of  them,"  the  lawyer  lowered 
his  voice  as  he  said  it. 

"  But  the  landlord  never  told  me,"  I  began. 

"  Why,  sir,  that  is  one  reason,"  Mr.  Archer  ex- 
plained, with  a  smile  at  my  simplicity,  "  he  was  so 
very  willing  to  pitch  me  out  at  your  suggestion. 
So  far  as  a  fool  can  be  a  villain,  he  is  one  of  them. 
This  house  is  one  of  their  head-quarters.  They 
did  their  level  best  to  banter  Evans  into  cards ; 
they  would  have  cleaned  him  out  in  one  night. 
Then  the  mock  preacher  slipped  some  drug  into 
Evans's  coffee,  while  waiting  upon  him  so  kindly. 
If  they  had  not  overdone  the  matter  in  their  eager- 
ness, by  putting  in  too  much,  and  he  had  not  had 
the  constitution  he  has,  it  would  have  killed  him  ; 
fortunately  it   drove   him   only  into   fever.      We 


3I0SE  EVANS.  ITo 

lawyers  know  everything  and  everybody.  If  you 
have  money,  Anderson,  don't  be  brash  about  it.  I 
know  your  wife  is  a  great  protection,  —  they  al- 
ways respect  a  lady,  —  but  be  careful.  If  they 
rob  and  murder  you,  no  hope  in  your  last  moments 
anybody  will  be  hung.  They  will  employ  me,  and 
I  am  sure  to  get  them  off  ! "  I  saw  nothing  at  all 
witty,  however,  in  the  lawyer's  fun,  "  the  crack- 
ling of  thorns  under  a  pot,"  which  wearied  me, 
and  so  I  rose  to  go.  I '  had  wakened  the  man's 
memory  of  early  days  into  a  flood  which  cared 
nothino-  as  to  the  way  it  ran,  so  that  it  could  be 
allowed  to  flow  on.  Besides,  it  was  getting  late, 
and  Helen  would  be  uneasy. 

"  Hold  on.  Major  Anderson,"  he  begged,  as  I 
got  up  from  beside  his  bed. 

"  You  must  excuse  me,  Mr.  Archer,  it  is  nearly 

eleven  "  • — 

''  Stop  a  moment.  It  is  about  Mose  Evans  I 
want  to  speak.  Things  have  happened  on  the 
Throop  place.  He  will  never  tell  you.  You 
know  Job  Peters?  " 

"  As  General  Throop's  overseer,  I  think  I  know 
all  you  can  tell  me,"  I  said,  for  I  hated  to  have 
him  speak  upon  matters  which  I  was  coming  to 
regard  as  sacred,  beyond  the  handhng  of  even 
Helen,  my  wife. 


176  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  Be  a  sensible  man,  Anderson,  and  stop,"  the 
man  said  without  a  particle  of  merriment.  "  Lift 
a  fellow  up  ;  I  want  to  talk  to  you  !  " 

I  had  tended  •in  hospitals  during  the  war,  — 
about  half  a  century  ago,  it  seemed  to  me,  —  so 
that  I  did  not  shrink  Avhile  the  man  clasped  his 
unbroken  arm  around  my  neck  and  I  lifted  him  as 
well  as  I  could  out  of  the  hole  of  his  bulging  bed, 
propped  him  up  with  the  bolster  doubled  over 
behind  his  back,  and  laid  his  splintered  arm  upon 
the  dirty  pillow  before  him.  Unrequested  I  wet 
the  end  of  a  towel  and  wiped  his  face,  brushing 
back  from  his  fine  forehead  the  hair  with,  I  am 
compelled  to  say,  a  clothes  brush,  which  I  found 
on  the  washstand. 

"  Thank  you.  Slight-built  men,  like  you  and 
myself,  make  splendid  nurses.  I  once  knew  a 
doctor,  red-headed,  feminine,  not  longer  than  your 
little  finger  "  — 

"  But  about  Mose  Evans,  Mr.  Archer." 

"  Yes,  Job  Peters  was  hired,  as  you  are  aware, 
by  the  General,  to  manage  the  freedmen.  You 
know  Job,  Anderson,  Harry  Peters's  brother  ?  He 
could  n't  rule  the  freed  blacks  with  the  cowhide  as 
of  old,  so  he  tried  sarcasm  !  " 

"  Sarcasm  ?  " 


MOSE  EVANS.  I'^T 

"His  bitter  fun,  you  see.     One  wouldn't  sup- 
pose the  negroes  would  care  for  that,  but,"  added 
the  lawj-er,  "  I  declare  I  honor  them  for  it,  they 
did.     It   was  worse -his  words -than   persim- 
mons before  frost ;  bitter,  stinging,  never  ceasing. 
'  How  many  lumps  of  dirt  in  your  cotton  basket 
to-day,  Mr.  Samuel  ?  '     'Ah,  3In.  Julia  Jones,  a 
lady  of  color,  and  have  to  work,  heh  ?  '     '  You 
coming  to  me  for  pay,  Mr.  Walter?     I  thought 
you  had  concluded  to  be  governor  of  the  State  . 
■  Nonsense  like  that  to  the  hands,  and  always  at  it ! 
Not  in  fun,  no  laugh  about  it,  bitterly;  and  thmgs 
^orse  than  that ;   they  can't  help   having  been 
made  free,  poor  wretches  !    It  was  not  fair  m  Job. 
They  got   worn   out  with  it  at   last  — his   fun. 
First    thing    you    know,   General    Throop,-of 
course  he  had  only  Job  Peters's  storj-,  -  was  out 
one  afternoon  among  the  blacks  at  the  gin,  in  a 
passion.     The  General  can't  reconcile  himself  to 
the  change,  it  is  the  world  upside  down  to  him  ; 
he  is  getting  suddenly  infirm,  too,  and  tremulous. 
Broke  his  gold  headed  cane  over  the  head  of  the 
foreman  of  the  crop  before  he  knew  it.     If  the 
negroes  had   not   respected   the  old    General  so, 
there  would  have  been  trouble  right  then.     I  sup- 
pose one  of  the  ladies  must  have  been  frightened 


178  MOSE  EVANS. 

and  sent  over  to  him  as  the  nearest  person  ;  but 
Mose  Evans  came  in  after  supper.  Mr.  Parkinson 
told  me  about  it.  The  General  was  in  a  bad 
humor,  and  Job  Peters  was  the  same,  as  he  always 
is.  In  the  presence  of  the  ladies,  too.  The  hands 
had  struck  work,  you  see,  —  gone  ! 

" '  You  ought  never  to  strike  a  negro  on  the 
head.  General,'  Job  Peters  was  saying,  '  It 
breaks  your  cane  and  does  n't  hurt  him.  "  I  always 
strike  for  the  shins  instead !  '  But  Job  lied  ;  he 
is  a  coward — can  hardly  walk  under  the  revolvers 
he  wears  in  the  cotton  patch,  since  the  blacks 
were  freed. 

"  '  What  do  you  say,  Mr.  Evans  ?  '  the  General 
asked. 

"  '  I  would  try  and  strike  between,'  Evans  said, 
smihng. 

"  '  AVhat  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  '  Job  roars  out, 
for  he  had  had  one  or  two  difficulties  with  Evans 
before.  I  suppose  Mr.  Parkinson  put  it  into  bet- 
ter words  than  Evans  could  use ;  but  he  told  me 
Evans  said  he  would  try  to  handle  them  by  their 
heart,  better  feelings,  nonsense  of  that  sort.  I 
suppose  Peters  saw  it  was  all  over  with  himself,  so 
far  as  overseeing  those  negroes  was  concerned,  and 
pitched  in,  as  the  boys  say.     In  the  very  supper- 


MOSE  EVANS.  179 

room  with  the  old  General  and  the  hidies  !     The 
ladies  told  Mr.  Parkinson  next  day,  and  he  told 
me.     By  the  bye,  Anderson,  I  do  believe  tliat  Mr. 
Parkinson  is  trying  to  convert  me,  he  stops  to  talk 
with  me  so  often,"  the  lawyer  pauses  to  explain  ; 
"  but  the  parson  said  it  was  beautiful.     You  see, 
Evans  is  very  strong,  as  cool  as  he  is  strong.     He 
took   Peters   in   his   grasp, —  you   remember  my 
case,  Anderson,  —  one  hand  over  his  foul  mouth, 
like  a  little  baby,  and  walked  him  quietly  as  he 
could  out  of  the  house,  out  of  the  front  yard,  out 
of   hearing.     I  do  not   know,  paddled   him  well,- 
I   suppose,   when   he   had    him   out   of    hearing. 
There    has    been   no    Job    Peters   on    the    place 
since  !  " 

"  But  who  is  overseer  ?  "  I  inquire  of  the  law- 
yer, doubting,  for  the  first  time,  if  I  had  not  had 
more  reference  to  my  own  interest  than  that  of 
General  Throop,  when  I  effected  our  exchange  of 
Charleston  and  Brown  County  property;  at  last, 
1  may  know  myself  less  than  I  do  any  other 
acquaintance ! 

''  Overseer  ?  Mose  Evans  !  It  was  not  his 
seeking.  He  got  me  to  draw  up  the  lease  with 
Harry  Peters  for  his  mother's  place,  now  his,  of 
course ;  and,"  Mr.  Archer  added,  "  I  knew  what 


.180  MOSE  EVANS. 

he  meant  by  employing  me.  He  knows  it  was  not 
so  much  my  fault,  at  last,  that  about  his  mother. 
The  lease  is  for  years.  He  intended  leaving  as 
soon  as  he  could  settle  up  his  mother's  estate  ;  for, 
I  tell  you,  sir,  she  held  liim  and  everything  else, 
those  strayed  cattle,  for  instance,  in  her  grip, 
while  she  lived !  General  Throop  was  left  so 
helpless,  you  observe.  The  ladies,  too.  He  took 
a  room  at  his  old  home,  with  Harry.  Harry 
thinks  the  world  of  him,  especially  since  his 
trouble  with  Job.  The  old  gentleman  is  so  feeble. 
Whatever  he  may  have  been  when  they  were 
slaves,  so  bewildered  about  the  negroes  now  they 
are  free,  that  he  turned  the  whole  plantation  over 
to  Evans.  This  made  it  necessary  Mose  should 
be  at  the  house  a  great  deal,  reporting  the  day's 
cotton  picking,  ginning,  pressing,  contract  kept, 
contract  broken,  and  the  like.  I  only  know  he 
got  in  the  General's  crop.  Saw  it  to  the  mouth, 
—  mouth  of  the  river,  our  port,  you  know.  Sold 
it  and  bought  the  General's  supplies." 

I  rose  to  my  feet  w^ith  deeper  sympathy  for 
poor  Evans  !  It  was  not  his  fault  —  so  closely 
associated  mth  the  family  —  even  if  he  knew  all 
the  time  of  Mr.  Clammeigh's  engagement.  Apart 
from  that,  how  could  he  hope  to  be  considered  in 


MOSE  EVANS.  181 

any  other  light  than  as  an  exceedingly  ignorant 
although  very  useful  Brown  County  boor,  by  the 
young  lady  in  question  ?  I  did  not  mention  the 
fact  to  the  la^vyer,  but  it  all  came  back  upon  me 
at  the  moment,  and  I  will  state  it  here,  even  if 
Helen  sees  it  and  I  die.  I  refer  to  the  last  day  I 
was  in  Brown  County  before  returning  to  Charles- 
ton. I  had  called  at  General  Throop's  to  bid 
them  good-by.  The  General  was  asleep  some- 
where, my  visit  being  in  the  afternoon.  Mrs. 
Throop,  if  she  was  not  superior  to  such  weakness, 
sleeping,  too,  I  suppose.  Agnes  Throop  saw  me 
as  I  alighted  from  my  horse  ;  she  seemed  always 
watching  for  rescue.  Clammeigh,  I  'm  afraid. 
But  she  dropped  her  sewing  and  came  out  in  her 
morning  dress  to  meet  me !  The  live-oaks  with 
their  swinging  moss  were  so  sepulchral ;  the  house 
was  so  silent  and  utterly  lonely ;  she  had  no 
brother ;  her  parents  were  wholly  unable  to  sym- 
pathize with  her,  by  reason  of  age  and  peculiar- 
ity I  All  that  poor,  frail  girl  had  on  earth  was  — 
Clammeigh,  a  thousand  miles  away  in  Charleston, 
a  million  of  miles  away  in  the  depths  of  his  in- 
tense selfishness,  if  she  knew  it.^  That  man  was, 
after  her  parents,  all  she  had  on  earth  to  love,  her 
entire  soul  flowing  to  that  cold  individual  as  the 


182  MOSE  EVANS. 

Gulf  Stream,  they  say,  flows  to  the  Polar  Sea ! 
How  she  hurried  out  to  meet  me  on  that  occasion, 
her  dark  hair  parted  simply  upon  her  pure  fore- 
head, all  her  soul  in  her  eyes,  the  perfect  grace 
and  culture  of  the  accomplished  woman  with  the 
simplicity  of  a  child,  holding  both  her  hands  out 
to  me  as  I  ascended  the  steps  !  I  have  before 
recorded  something  of  her  greetmg  when  I  first 
saw  her  after  she  arrived  at  her  new  home ;  it  was 
her  way  to  every  one  she  imagined  had  done  her  a 
kindness.  I  speak  of  it  again  because  of  her  utter 
loneliness  in  the  world,  which,  I  suppose,  made 
her  all  the  more  eager,  unconscious  to  herself,  for 
sympathy !  I  had  no  time  to  enter  the  house, 
could  only  leave  my  regards  for  her  parents,  take 
both  of  her  hands  once  more  in  mine,  to  say 
good-by.  O  beauty,  grace,  jDurity,  sweetness ! 
O  magnetism,  mesmerism,  witchcraft !  O  friend- 
ship with  lines  not  more  exactly  defined  between 
itself  and  love,  than  are  the  stripes  of  a  rain- 
bow from  each  other.  And,  O  Helen,  Helen ! 
Heaven  knows  how  thoroughly  I  prefer  and  love 
you,  my  o^vn  wife,  in  comparison  with  every  other 
woman  I  ever  knew.  You  understand  the  sin- 
gular, yet  wholly  unconscious  power  of  Agnes 
Throop  !     Hence  the  depth  of  our  interest  in  poor 


MOSE  EVANS.  183 

Evans.     Notliing  more  absurd,  and  perfectly  nat- 
ural, too,  than  his  infatuation  ! 

I  know  I  am  as  cool  a  man  of  the  world  as  any 
in  Boston  or  Wall  Street ;  but,  you  observe,  peo- 
ple do  not  generally  think  and  feel  aloud,  as  I  am 
doing  here.  The  only  way  I  can  interest  anybody 
in  this  bald  narrative  of  mine  is  to  write  out,  as 
nearly  as  I  dare,  according  to  the  actual  facts; 
having  no  art,  I  can  merely  give  nature ! 

"  Do  you  know  why  Evans  left  ?  "  the  law^-er 
halted  me  again  as  I  was  leaving. 

"  Not  fully  ;  why  do  you  ask  ?  "  I  replied. 

"  They  are  a  frail  class  of  persons,  the  Throops  ; 
physically,  I  mean,"  he  replied.  *'  The  father  and 
mother  by  age ;  all  of  them  by  reason  of  long  suf- 
fering. I  think  they  could  not  but  respect,  igno- 
rant as  Evans  was,  his  sturdy  strength  of  body. 
They  have  lived  in  our  artificial  society  there  in 
Charleston,  —  do  I  not  know  Charleston  ?  —  are 
bewildered  by  the  change,  and  they  came  to  es- 
teem the  stroncr  common-sense  of  the  man.  He  is 
so  silent,  too  ;  he  does  not  make  himself  more 
ridiculous  than  he  can  help  by  blunders  in  gram- 
mar and  the  like  I  Handsome,  now,  is  n't  he  ? 
Mr.  Parkinson  is  jealous  of  him  ;  ever  know  any- 


184  MOSE  EVANS. 

thing  so  preposterous  ?  Of  course,  Parkinson  is 
out  of  the  question,  to  say  nothing  of  that  Mr. 
Clammeigh  from  Charleston  —  but,  Mose  Evans  ! 
One  thing,  Mr.  Anderson,  I  know,  as  a  lawyer," 
the  man  continued;  *'it  is  partly  land,  specula- 
tion in  land,  sir,  not  wholly  Miss  Throop,  which 
brought  Clammeigh  to  Brown  County  when  he 
came.  I  happen  to  know.  I  'm  sorry  they  are  to 
marry." 

"  So  am  I;  but  why  did  Evans  leave  ?  "  I  de- 
mand as  I  open  the  door  to  depart. 

"  We  legal  men  are  on  the  watch  in  regard  to 
everything,  by  force  of  habit,  even  where  no  fee  is 
in  question,"  Mr.  Archer  replied.  "  It  was  un- 
gentlemanly,  I  confess,  but  I  learned  from  the 
negroes  about  their  place  that  Evans  left  suddenly 
one  day.  He  had  brought  out  their  mail  matter 
to  the  Throops,  and  their  people  think  he  brought 
them  a  letter  that  day  which  made  trouble.  I 
have  racked  my  brain  to  conjecture  whom  that 
document  could  be  from.  I  mean,  to  produce  any 
such  effect  upon  Evans.  I  cannot  imagine  ;  and 
have  given  it  up  !  He  employed  me  about  that 
lease,  but  has  had  no  intercourse  with  me  apart 
from  the  silent  eloquence,  if  I  may  so  speak,  of 
that.     Do  you  suppose  I  would  have  come  here, 


MOSE  EVANS.  185 

learning  of  his  peril,  but  for  my  regard  for  the 
man  ?  BroAVii  County  never  understood  him  ;  less 
of  late  than  ever  before.  Mr.  Parkinson  suddenly 
called  upon  him,  a  few  Sundays  before  he  left,  sir, 
to  lead  in  prayer.  It  was  at  a  sort  of  conference 
meeting  in  the  church,  General  Throop  and  his 
daughter  present.  Mr.  Parkinson  dare  not  ask 
himself  his  full  motive  in  requesting  him  to  do  so, 
old  New  Hampshire  having  been  the  only  member 
of  his  cliurch  he  had  called  upon  previously.  The 
eyes  of  every  person  present  were  upon  Mose 
Evans  on  the  instant;  they  could  not  help  it. 
Strange  as  it  may  be,  I  was  there ;  my  eyes  could 
detect  no  confusion  in  his  face  !  A  slight  suffusion 
of  surprise,  and  he  quietly  arose ;  and  a  better 
prayer,  although  brief,"  —  and  the  lawyer  con- 
signed himself  to  perdition  in  default  of  truth 
upon  his  part,  -^  '*  I  never  heard  !  " 

"  Well,  I  must  say  good-night,"  I  began. 

"I  was  at  the  fence  of  General  Throop's  place," 
Odd  Archer  continued,  "about  the  time  Mr.  Clam- 
meigh,  then  on  a  visit  to  them,  was  leaving  for 
Charleston.  I  sat  on  my  horse,  merely  asking  to 
see  the  General  at  his  gate.  It  was  about  a  tax 
claim,  and  the  General  had  never  invited  me  to 
visit  them.     Evans  was  buckling  his  saddle-girth 


186  MOSE  EVANS. 

to  ride  somewhere  when  the  General  came  out  to 
US,  bare-headed,  Clammeigh  and  Miss  Throop  with 
him,  to  tell  him  good-by.  '  I  thought,'  Clam- 
meigh said  to  Evans,  drawing  on  his  gloves  as 
he  spoke,  his  saddle-bags  over  his  arm,  '  that  I 
had  told  you  to  have  my  horse  ready  ! '  Oh,  it 
was  nothing  worth  telling,"  Mr.  Archer  added  ; 
"  merely  that,  and  the  amused  expression  upon 
the  face  of  Evans  as  he  lifted  his  hand  to  his  hat 
in  salutation  to  the  General  and  his  daughter,  and 
rode  silently  away,  was  beautiful !  The  sudden 
glance  of  the  lady,  too,  from  the  one  man  to  the 
other!" 

"  And  now,  I  will  say  good-night." 

"  Good-night,  sir,"  the  lawyer  said,  slipping 
himself  down  into  his  bed  and  more  into  a  posture 
for  sleep.  "  I  said  Mose  Evans  left  suddenly.  It 
was  not  suddenly.  He  made  his  preparations  to 
leave  silently  but  deliberately.  He  has  some 
grave  purpose.  I  wish  I  knew  what.  I  chanced 
to  be  going  into  town  that  day  and  passed  him  on 
the  road.  He  had  the  aspect  to  me  as  he  rode 
away,  of  a  lawyer  going  to  the  capital  to  take  his 
seat  upon  the  bench  !     Good-night  I  " 


XV. 

"  I  gained  my  wondrous  skill," 
The  artist  said  when  asked, 
"Not,  as  you  say,  by  will 

Through  years  severely  tasked ; 
That  but  their  tool,  ray  makers  were 
Rage,  Hunger,  Failure,  and  Despair !  " 

It  was  on  "Wednesday  that  my  wife  and  myself 
had  our  interview  with  Mr.  Evans,  as  abeady  nar- 
rated. Certain  matters  of  my  own  prevented  our 
entering  his  room  again  until  the  afternoon  of  the 
Sabbath  following.  During  the  interval  he  had 
improved  greatly,  and,  although  still  confined  to 
liis  room,  received  us  dressed  and  seated  in  an 
enormous  chair  used  for  shaving  purposes,  which  I 
had  secured  from  the  shop  of  a  negro  barber  across 
the  street,  less  by  money  than  by  saying  it  was  for 
a  sick  man.  It  is  impossible  not  to  appreciate  the 
warm-hearted  sympathy  with  suffering  on  the  part 
of  people  of  color,  and  the  hearty  satisfaction  of 
the  barber,  as  he  shaved  his  dissatisfied  customers, 
seated  uncomfortably  in  an  ordinary  hide-bottom 

9 


188  MOSE  EVANS 

chair,  was  to  me  half  the  pleasure  of  my  toilette 
when  I  dropped  in  for  that  purpose. 

"  Must  n't  cuss  so,  massa ;  s'pose  you  was  sick !  " 
was  the  emollient  the  smiling  barber  applied,  with 
his  lather,  to  each  remonstrant.  "  Chair  good 
enough  ;  sit  still,  massa,  or  you  mought  get  cut !  " 

Wlien  we  first  entered  his  room,  I  confess  I 
could  not  help  laughing  aloud  as  I  saw  our  inva- 
lid, still  very  feeble  and  hollow  about  the  eyes  and 
cheek,  seated  in  his  stately  chair,  his  head  resting 
upon  the  support  behind.  My  wife  looked  indig- 
nantly at  me,  for  she  knew  I  was  thinking  of  the 
poor  fellow  as  awaiting  at  her  hands  worse  sur- 
gery than  any  that  chair  had  ever  held  victim  for 
before.  By  way,  I  suppose,  of  chloroform  before 
operation,  my  wife,  after  I  had  read,  at  Mr.  Ev- 
ans's request,  a  certain  passage  of  Scripture,  sang 
us  a  number  of  the  hj^mns  common  among  the 
blacks ;  sung  in  a  low  voice,  they  were  that  Sun- 
day afternoon,  the  sweetest  music  I  ever  heard  ! 

"  I  ought  to  know  them,"  she  said,  after  she 
liad  sung  ''  Swing  low,  sweet  chariot ;  "  "I  don't 
feel  no  ways  tired  ; "  winding  up  in  triumph  with 
"  Mary  an'  Martha  have  just  gone  along."  "  My 
mammy  rocked  me  to  sleep  singing  them  when  I 
was  a  baby  in  her  arms,  there  on  the  plantation. 


MOSE  EVANS.  189 

I  have  heard  them  all  my  life,  as  our  people  sang 
thera  in  their  meetings,  and  over  their  wash-tubs. 
Except  at  church,  they  never  sing  them,  or  any- 
thing else,  now.  I  '11  sing  one  more.  We  have 
all  heard  it  often.  It  is  the  hymn  Henry  says  he 
will  have  sung  to  him  when  he  is  dying.  Listen, 
Mr.  Evans,  to  '  Roll,  Jordan,  roll ; '  for  I  want  to 
have  a  good  talk  with  you  when  I  am  through." 
Helen  was  seated  upon  one  side  of  the  sick  man 
and  I  upon  the  other,  and  there  was  a  long  silence 
after  she  had  ceased  singing.  I  think  even  her 
heart  was  softened. 

"  I  was  wishing  to  speak  to  you,"  she  began  at 
last. 

"  Yes,  ma'am."  Mose  Evans  turns  his  eyes 
upon  her  respectfully. 

"  It  is  in  reference  to  Miss  Agnes  Throop." 
The  eyes  remain  fixed  upon  hers,  but  the  respect- 
ful interest  has  singularly  changed  into  a  species 
of  indifference. 

"  If  you  please  "  —  he  requests. 

"  I  have  none  with  me,"  Helen  replies  with 
some  severity,  divining  his  meaning  ;  "  here  is 
lavender  ;  "  and  ^Ir.  Evans  submits  to  a  sprink- 
ling of  the  same  upon  hair  and  beard,  no  more  to 
him  than  so  much  water 


190  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  I  think  I  can  save  you  from  a  ruined  life, 
from  great  unhappiness,  at  least,"  Helen  proceeds. 
*'  What  I  say  may  hurt  you  veiy  much.  Are  you 
strong  enough  ?  " 

"  Yes,  ma'am,"  with  the  smiling  indifference  as 
of  a  grown  man  when  being  treated  like  an  infant. 
My  wife's  pride  is  touched.  She  grasps  her  knife, 
so  to  speak,  with  positive  pleasure.  Plunges  it 
in! 

"  I  have  known  Agnes  Throop  all  my  life.  She 
is  a  good  girl,  a  sweet  girl.  But  that  is  all !  She 
is  not  an  angel  of  God.  You  are  mistaken  en- 
tirely,— nothing  unusual  in  lier  at  all.  There  are 
many  women  more  beautiful,  as  you  would  know 
if  you  had  seen  more  of  the  world.  I  could  tell 
you  even  of  many  serious  defects  in  her  char- 
acter ! " 

Now,  it  mav  be  ricjht  for  doctors,  female  ones 
too,  to  fib.  But  I  was  surprised  at  this !  I 
studied,  from  the  other  side,  the  broad,  open  face 
of  her  patient  as  she  spoke. 

"  Yes,  ma'am  !  "  Because  of  his  lack  of  cul- 
ture, everything  the  man  thought  or  felt  came  to 
his  face,  and  now  there  was  nothinfj  there  but 
entire   indifference.     If  mv  wife  had  stated  that 

4/ 

the  afternoon  sun  he  saw  out  of  the  window  was  a 


MOSE  EVANS,  191 

turnip,  instead,  which  a  boy  had  thrown  into  the 
air,  he  would  have  beheved  it  as  much.  Mose 
was  a  grand  object,  invalid  though  he  was  ;  that 
about  shoulders  and  face  which  reminded  one  of 
the  bust  of  a  Roman  emperor.  And  marble  he 
certainly  was  to  her  statement. 

"  Yes,  ma'am." 

"  And  I  must  tell  you  this,  also  ; "  my  wife  is 
more  quiet  as  she  becomes  more  cruel.  "  Miss 
Agnes  Throop  is  engaged  to  be  married  to  a  Mr. 
Archibald  Clammeigh  of  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina. He  is  a  lawyer,  a  gentleman  of  education. 
He  has  traveled  over  the  world.  He  is  handsome, 
veri/  rich.  And  she  loves  him.  I  know  her  well, 
she  loves  him  with  all  her  heart !    So,  you  see  "  — 

"Yes,  ma'am."  Marble.  With  merely  this 
difference,  one  simple  question,  that  asked  as  if 
the  reply  made  no  difference.  "  Does  he  love 
her  ?  "  The  man  put  such  a  meaning  in  that 
word  **  love  !  "  I  could  have  laughed  at  the  way 
it  hit  Helen.  She  colored  with  confusion.  Know- 
ing  that  detestable  Clammeigh  as  she  did. 

"  Apart  from  that,  Evans,"  I  add,  "  as  I  hap- 
pen to  know  from  the  person  himself,  ]\Ir.  Parkin- 
son, too,  is  ardently  in  love  with  Miss  Throop. 
Do  you  not  see  how  foolish  you  are  ?     Even  leav- 


192  MOSE  EVANS. 

ing  Mr.  Clammeigli  out  of  the  question,  do  you 
suppose  you  are  a  match  for  a  gentleman  of  edu- 
cation like  that  minister?  Besides,  he  will  see 
her  every  day,  man,  while  you  are  far  away  and 
entirely  forgotten." 

And,  yet,  in  reply  to  all  this  I  had  from  Mr. 
Evans  merely  a  composed  "  Yes,  sir." 

"  I  have  merely  to  add  this,"  Helen  continued 
after  a  while,  with  dignity;  "my  husband  esteems 
you  as  an  honest  man,  sincere,  well-meaning  "  — 

"  Yes,  ma'am." 

"But  you  are  more  ignorant  than  you  know. 
General  Throop  is  of  one  of  the  first  families  of 
Charleston,  and  very  proud.  Now,  you  see  how 
impossible  it  is.  You  might  as  well  fall  in  love 
with  the  moon.  You  can  never  marry  Miss  Agnes 
Throop  ;  be  a  sensible  man,  Mr.  Evans.    Never  1 " 

"  Yes,  ma'am."  And  not  a  shadow  upon  the 
marble  of  his  face.  If  Helen  had  been  imparting 
to  him  the  most  miinteresting,  or  the  most  delight- 
ful news  in  the  world,  you  could  not  have  told 
which  it  was,  from  his  countenance  at  least ;  and 
a  more  expressive  one  in  telling  of  or  hearing 
about  a  bear  fight,  for  instance,  I  never  saw. 

"  And,  now,"  very  soothingly  on  the  part  of  my 
wife,  "  you  know  we  are  your  friends,  we  wish  to 


MOSE  EVANS.  193 

save  you  from  misery.  I  tell  you  only  the  truth. 
What,"  after  some  considerable  pause,  "  do  you 
think  of  it  ?  " 

It  "would  have  been  better  if  Helen  had  not 
asked,  but,  owing  to  her  sex,  she  was  curious. 
Mose  Evans  sat  with  his  eyes  respectfully  in  hers. 
At  the  question,  with  the  simplicity  of  a  child,  he 
quietly  replied,  "  You  have  never  loved,  ma'am.'' 

I  was  angry  with  the  fellow,  but  I  could  have 
laughed  —  did  laugh,  I  believe  —  outright.  It 
smote  Helen  full  in  the  face.  She  positively 
crimsoned. 

"  You  forget,  sir,"  she  said  at  last,  with  entire 
dignity,  "that  I  am  married  —  that  this  is  my 
husband." 

"  Yes,  ma'am.  Beg  pardon."  But  it  was  evi- 
dent that  the  man  had  nothing  to  take  back.  He 
was  so  very  ignorant,  you  see. 

It  was  Sunday  afternoon,  as  I  have  said.  It 
occurs  to  me  as  I  write,  that  the  day,  our  having 
read  the  Bible  together,  Helen's  songs  of  worship, 
our  intending  soon  to  part,  all  these  were  not 
without  their  influence,  in  addition  to  his  terrible 
illness  and  near  escape  from  death,  upon  our 
friend.  We  had  enjoyed  a  quiet  time  all  these 
days   in  our  upper  rooms  of   the    "  hotel."     The 


194  MOSE  EVANS. 

lumbering  old  stage,  dnven  by  profanity,  —  the 
motive  power,  it  seemed  to  me,  of  all  the  ox, 
horse,  mule  machinery  out  West ;  they  added  its 
pressure  to  mill  sluice,  and  steam,  even  !  —  rolled 
up  to  and  away  from  the  front  porch  every  even- 
ing about  six,  disgorging  its  passengers  for  supper 
and  re-engorging  them  thereafter,  replete  with 
coffee,  pork,  and  hot  biscuit ;  exceedingly  hilarious, 
in  consequence  thereof,  generally  at  the  expense  of 
hotel  and  landlord,  for  the  next  ten  miles  ;  deeply 
dej)ressed,  also,  in  consequence  of  supper,  all  night 
and  until  after  breakfast  next  day.  I  had  ridden 
—  how  often  ?  —  in  the  same.  In  and  out  of  the 
front  porch  flowed  and  ebbed,  at  periods  as  de- 
fined as  the  tide,  the  population  of  Bucksnort. 
The  landlord  got  drunk  and  got  sober  as  by  a  law 
of  nature.  His  miserable  wife  showed  her  heart- 
broken face  once  or  twice  a  day  in  our  rooms,  to 
see  "  how  you  all  are  getting  along,  and  if  there  is 
anything  I  can  do."  The  flaunting  concubines  of 
his  seraglio,  black,  yellow,  ash-colored,  were  in 
and  out  of  the  rooms  and  halls  with  that  peculiar 
impudence  of  manner  which  we  would  think  a 
woman  would  shrink,  in  virtue  of  her  very  sex, 
from  showing  toward  a  wife,  and  a  heart-broken 
and   helpless  wife,   at   that !     I   could   not   help 


MOSE  EVANS,  195 

observing  how  the  women  of  whom  I  am  speaking 
sent  scorn  and  defiance  to  her  ears,  even  when 
out  of  sight,  in  their  shrill  songs  from  the  wash- 
tubs  and  clothes-lines  in  the  back  yard,  —  songs 
offensively  religious.  And  so  we  lived  in  our 
•world,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  hotel  in  theirs, 
meeting  only  at  the  table  for  meals  ;  my  appetite 
holding  out  longer  than  Helen's,  but  getting  so 
very  tired  at  last  of  the  monotonous  sameness  of 
an  indigestibility  of  fare,  the  one  law  of  which  was 
-fry! 

I  say  it  was,  I  suppose,  all  the  peculiar  influ- 
ences upon  Mose  Evans  combined,  possibly  the 
feeling  of  some  explanation  as  due  my  wife,  that 
caused  him  to  say  w^hat  he  did  before  we  parted 
that  Sunday  night.     We  had  risen  to  leave. 

"  I  am,"  he  remarked,  "  as  you  say,  ma'am,  an 
ignorant  man  ;  not  a  more  ignorant  man  alive,  I 
suppose,"  he  said,  as  if  stating  the  time  of  day, 
*'  but  there  are  some  things  I  do  know !  " 

I  am  no  stenographer,  and  can  but  report  his 
ideas  as  nearly  in  his  words  as  I  recall  them.  He 
continued  slowly,  steadily,  "  AVhat  you  say  about 
her  not  being  so  much  at  last  is  only  this.  I  don't 
know  what  she  is  to  others.  I  know  what  she  is 
to   me.      I  never   thought  God  Almighty   could 


196  MOSE  EVANS. 

make  such  a  person  as  she  is  —  never  mind !  I 
can't  tell  why,  but  I  can't  talk  about  that  at  all. 
What  I  look  at  is  the  hand  He  who  makes  us  has 
had  in  it.  It  is  like  a  camp-fire  you  see  a-making 
on  a  cold,  ramy,  pitch-dark  night  in  the  woods : 
there  's  the  blaze,  and  there  's  the  face  it  lights  up 
so  of  the  man  building  the  fire  !  I  mean  Him  !  " 
as  with  a  gesture  of  the  eyes  upward,  "  and  it  was 
not  my  doing,  that  trouble  with  Job  Peters,  and 
having  to  be  in  their  house  so  much.  I  might 
have  gone  off,  outlived  it  all,  but  for  that !  As  to 
the  gentleman  from  Charleston.  TVell,  I  've  seen 
him.  He  is  all  you  say.  May  be  so  !  But  what 
I  look  at  is  this,  he  is  n't  fit ;  not  for  her !  The 
hardest  thing,  you  said,  ma'am,"  looking  full  at 
my  wife  with  serious  eyes,  "  was  that  she  loves 
that  man.  May  be  so  !  But  people  change  when 
they  come  to  know.  She  is  all  the  same  to  me, 
whether  she  ever  changes  or  not.  I  can  no  more 
help  it  than  I  can  help  living,  no,  nor  than  I  can 
keep  from  dying  when  that  comes.  I  '11  tell  you 
what  I  am  going  to  do  about  it,"  he  went  on  to 
say,  after  withdrawing  his  eyes  from  those  of  my 
wife  and  reflecting  for  some  time,  then  raising 
them  again  to  hers,  "  and  then  1 11  tell  you  why. 
I  was  on  my  way  when  I  was  taken  down.     I  have 


MOSE  EVANS.  197 

fixed  with  old  New  ILimpsliire  about  my  property, 
how  he  is  to  send  me  money.     For  I  'm  going  off 
to  try  and  learn  something.     Then  I  'm  going  to 
travel  about,  for  years,  perhaps.     New  Hampshire 
has  given  me  letters  and  directions.     If  any  law 
comes  up  about  the  property,  he  has  my  power  of 
attorney.     He  '11  have  you  to  help  him,  sir.     But 
don't  fuss  with  that  Odd  Archer.     You  are  certain 
to  kill  him,  if  you  do,  and  I  would  n't,  if  I  was 
you.     While  I  am  gone,  who  can  tell  but  matters 
may  change  ?     I  've   never  spoken  to  her,  about 
myself,  hardly,  in   my  life;   never   dared   to.     I 
mean,  nothing  of  all  I  feel.     But  she  may  hear, 
somehow.     Anyway  I  can  do  nothing  but  what  I 
am  doing !     And  now,  I  '11  tell  you  why  I  'm  go- 
intr  to  do  what  I  said."     It  was  after  some  silence, 
and  in  lowered  tones,  that  he   continued,  "  I  've 
never   said  a  word  of  what  I  'm  telling  you  to  a 
Boul  before.     I  hope  I  never  will  have  to  again  as 
lon<^  as  I  hve.     I  think  about  Httle  else,  but  it  is 
the  hardest  thing  to  say  out  I  ever  knew.     If  it 
was  n't  my  sickness,  your  talk  with  me,  the  Sab- 
bath, the  singmg,  and  all,  I  would  n't  have  opened 
my  hps  about  it.     But,  it  all  happens  so  ! 

"  You  see,"  he  continued,  at  last,  with  the  frank 
eyes  as  of  a  child  in  mine,  not  my  wife's,  "  I  've 


198  MOSE  EVANS. 

lived,  as  I  've  found  out  for  tlie  last  year,  among 
people  almost  as  ignorant  as  the  brutes,  to  say 
nothing  of  those  among  them  that  are  wicked. 
You  know,  Mr.  Anderson,  how  Bro^yn  County 
people  talk  about  their  Maker,  '  the  good  man,' 
'  old  Marster,'  and  the  like.  I  alwa^^s  knew  we 
had  a  Maker,  but  I  never  knew  God  was  such  a 
man,  too,  as  Jesus  Christ !  I  have  come  to  know 
He  is  ;  and  how  amazing  it  is  to  me  to  know  it,  I 
can't  tell  you.  And  I  never  knew  such  a  woman 
could  be  as  she  is.  But  I  know  now  there  is  such 
a  woman.  It  may  not  be  right  for  me  to  put  even 
her  beside  God,  but  she  is  so  to  me ;  I  can't  help 
it."     A  lonsr  silence  after  this. 

"  What  I  want  to  say  is  even  harder  to  say," 
he  added  at  last.  "  Because  people  always  talk 
about  a  man  loving  a  woman  as  if  it  was  a  joke, 
nothing  except  to  laugh  at,  to  make  fun  over. 
With  me  it  is  nothing  in  that  way,  nothing  at  all ! 
It  is  the  most  solemn,  most  sacred  thing  I  know, 
and  what  I  am  tr^Hng  so  hard  to  get  to  say  is  this. 
If  such  a  person  as  God  can  love  me  as  I  've  come 
to  find  out  He  does,  then  she  may  too,  some  day. 
I  can't  tell  how  all  this  sounds  to  you,  but  it  is 
what  I  mean." 

It  was  so  much  in  the  manner  of  the  man  !     "I 


MOSE  EVANS.  199 

have  fixed  matters,  as  I  said,  with  old  New  Hamp- 
shire," our  friend  conckided,  ''although  you  two 
are  the  only  ones  I  've  spoken  to  about  all  this. 
I  'm  going  far  away,  to  try  and  see  what  I  can 
make  of  myself.  All  along  I  've  known  almost  as 
Httle  about  myself  as  I  knew  about  the  One  that 
made  me.  Who  can  tell  what  I  may  not  make 
of  myself  yet  ?  I  don't  know,  but  I  can  try  and 
see. 

"  I  saw  a  picture  last  summer  in  Boston,"  I  re- 
marked to  Helen  that  night  in  our  own  room,  for 
she  seemed  to  have  nothing  to  say,  "  of  a  mission- 
ary preaching  to  the  natives  of  some  newly  dis- 
covered continent  or  other.  The  painter  had 
placed  a  savage  chief  in  the  foreground,  listening 
to  the  missionary.  It  was  admirably  done  —  the 
wide-eyed  wonder  of  the  savage,  at  what  was  be- 
ing said  I  This  religion  of  ours  is  as  old  and  as 
familiar  to  us  as  the  sun.  Suppose  you  had  seen 
the  sun  to-day  for  the  first  time  ?  We  are  a  sort 
of  Chinese,  my  dear  ;  things  have  always  been,  we 
think,  as  they  are  to-day,  will  go  on  in  the  same 
old  round  for  ever  and  ever.  The  gospel  is  as  new, 
really,  to  Evans,  as  it  would  be  to  any  other  of 
the  aborigines.  How  was  it  that  night  to  the 
shepherds  keeping  watch  over  their  floclvs?" 


200  MOSE  EVANS. 

But  my  wife  lias  no  remark  to  offer,  and  I  add, 
after  a  little,  "  This  religion  of  om's  has  lifted 
some  of  the  race  from  a  very  low  estate.  We 
know  it  will  elevate  the  noblest  of  us  to  a  far 
higher  level  yet.  If  it  can  lift  the  race,  I  do  not 
see  why  it  cannot  lift  a  man.     Heh  ?  '* 

"  I  am  quite  tired  to-night,  Henry,'*  was  all  my 
wife  replied,  "  let  us  go  to  sleep." 


XVI. 

"We  are  the  self-same  coal,"  — 

The  Diamond  made  reply,  — 

"  Oar  difference  this :  the  whole 

Weight  of  the  world  did  lie 

For  ages  on  me !    Differing  grade 

Is  differing  pressure  on  us  laid! " 

"  You  are  quite  poetical ! "  my  wife  remarked 
to  me  one  day  after  we  had  readied  Brownstown, 
for  I  was  compelled  by  pressure  of  business  to  bid 
Evans  good-by,  at  daylight,  the  morning  after  the 
interview  with  him  just  described.  Perhaps  there 
is  some  such  scant  streaking  of  gold  through  my 
quartz,  for  my  dear  mother  up  there  in  New  Eng- 
land had  once  published  a  thin  volume  of  poems. 
Helen's  exclamation,  I  will  explain,  followed  upon 
my  saying  that  Agnes  Throop  was  Uke  a  pearl  set 
in  ebony. 

It  was  suggested  to  me  by  a  doleful  September 
day  we  had  spent,  Helen  and  myself,  at  the 
Throops,  after  our  arrival  from  Bucksnort,  and 


202  MOSE  EVAXS. 

parting  with  Archer  there,  and  Evans,  the  latter 
going  East,  the  former  to  go  —  more  rapidly,  I 
supposed,  if  that  were  possible  —  to  the  bad.  My 
wife  and  myself  were  to  be  in  Brownstown  but  a 
short  time,  her  presence  as  well  as  my  own  being 
needed  there  to  certain  signatures  before  a  notary 
public;  signatures,  on  her  part,  at  least,  effected 
just  as  well  in  Charleston ;  but  come  with  me  she 
would.  *'  I  want  to  be  with  you,  Henry.  They 
are  so  lonely,  too,  the  Throops  !  "  she  said. 

Lonely  !  Neither  they  nor  we  thought  of  it  in 
all  the  first  eager  conversation  after  we  arrived  ; 
but  it  was  terrible,  that  last  September  "Wednes- 
day. We  sat  in  their  parlor,  we  tried  the  front 
porch,  we  wandered  under  the  great  trees  of  the 
yard,  and  we  came  back  and  gave  up  escaping 
what,  I  fear,  was  nothing  but  miasma,  and  so  took 
to  our  big  rocking-chairs  upon  the  front  porch,  — 
piazza,  rather,  as  it  extended  the  entire  length  of 
the  house.  It  was  Mrs.  Throop,  however,  who 
made  the  day  and  the  scene  positively  weird ! 

"I  sit  here  sometimes  for  hours,"  she  said, 
*' gazing  upon  the  river,  rolling  along  its  liquid 
mud,  like  our  turbid  lives.  Turning  a  little  this 
way,  now  a  bend  toward  the  other  side,  now  a 
little  more  and  now  a  Httle  less  overhung  by  those 


MOSE  EVANS.  203 

great  live-oaks  with  their  trailing  moss  ;  only  the 
muddier  when  there  is  a  freshet  "  — 

*' A  boat  now  and  then,  mamma,"  Agnes  insists, 
in  the  quiet  but  continual  protest  I  had  observed 
in  her  from  the  first,  against  the  gloom  of  the 
household.  Helen  said  even  Mary  ISIartha  Wash- 
inf'ton,  their  self-sacrificed  slave,  seemed  darker 
than  before.  But  as  to  Agnes,  there  was  that  in 
her  which  showed  that  something  beyond  all  this 
had  befallen  her  since  we  last  met ;  some  terrible 
blow  had  fallen,  was  expected  to  fall  —  I  knew 
not  what.  I  could  not  say  in  what  respect,  if  any, 
it  had  affected  her  outer  bearing.  The  calamity, 
whatever  it  was,  had  smitten  deeper  than  that. 

"Yes.  A  boat!"  Mrs.  Throop  continued,  in 
sentences  singularly  detached.  "  Loaded  to  the 
water's  edge  with  cotton.  A  shower  of  sparks 
always  falling  upon  the  bales  from  the  smoke- 
stacks !  I  often  sit  at  my  bedroom  window,  some- 
times wrap  myself  up  and  come,  while  you  are  all 
sleeping,  and  sit  for  hours  watcliing  the  steamboats 
as  they  pass.  It  is  a  striking  but  most  mournful 
scene,  especially  at  midnight.  All  the  negro  crew 
are  then  on  the  bow,  singing  and  dancing,  the 
boat  so  apt  to  strike  a  snag,  or  catch  on  fire,  or 
blow  up,  the  next  moment !  An  emblem  of  the 
world ! " 


204  MOSE  EVAXS, 

But  it  was  the  great,  sad  eyes,  the  wailing  in 
the  tones  of  her  voice,  which  gave  such  sepulchral 
power  to  wh^t  Mrs.  Throop  said. 

"  I  blame  myself,  madam,"  I  interposed  with 
some  emphasis,  "for  inducing  you  to  leave  Charles- 
ton.    There  at  least "  — 

"  Charleston  !  Charleston  !  "  But  how  can  I 
give  the  inflections  of  the  poor  lady's  voice  as  she 
turned  those  eyes  upon  me  !  Dressed  in  black  for 
Theodore,  and  everything  else  in  the  world,  — 
emaciated  until  her  eyes  seemed  all  there  was  of 
her.     "  Charleston  I  " 

"  Mrs.  Throop  knows,"  the  General  here  re- 
marked with  his  peculiar  courtesy  of  manner  when 
any  lady  was  in  question,  "  that  I  have  no  sympa- 
th}^  with  her  religious  views.  While  the  Creator 
leaves  us  in  this  world  I  think  He  means  we 
should  care  for  and  be  interested  in  it,  as  He  will 
desire  us  to  be  interested  in  the  existence  after 
tliis,  when  He  has  placed  us  there.  I  agree  that 
an  accursed  military  despotism  has  superseded 
American  freedom  ;  I  know  that  universal  corrup- 
tion reigns  in  a  Congress  once  adorned  with  the 
presence  of  a  Hayne,  a  Randolph,  a  Calhoun ;  I 
know  that  free  negroes  and  their  baser  white  alHes 
swarm  "  — 


MOSE  EVANS.  205 

"  Dear  father !  "  It  was  with  her  hand  upon 
his  arm,  with  imploring  eyes  in  his,  that  his 
daughter  said  it.  My  wife  reminded  me  after- 
ward how  near  to  him  the  poor  girl  seemed  to 
keep,  all  the  time.  As  to  the  mother,  I  had  ob- 
served her  sitting  off  by  herself  in  the  parlor,  or 
upon  the  porch,  her  eyes  upon  the  flowing  river, 
remaining  for  hours  as  motionless,  as  far  as  I  could 
see,  as  though  she  were  indeed  dead.  No  trace  of 
insanity  except  in  the  self-contained  isolation  of 
the  poor  lady  from  all  the  world,  the  lingering  of 
a  soul  in  the  frail  body  long  after  it  had  drained 
to  the  dregs  all  the  bitterness  of  death.  Had  she 
been  indeed  a  disembodied  spirit,  she  could  hardly 
have  been  more  separate  from,  as  she  was  sacred 
to,  her  daughter.  Her  father  was  really  all  that 
daughter  had  left  to  her,  beside  her  betrothed,  on 
earth ;  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Clammeigh  she  clang 
exclusively  to  him.  No  wonder.  He  seemed  even 
more  portly  of  person  than  before,  but  there  was 
an  ashen  something  in  his  face,  the  whiter  for  the 
flushes  of  red  to  the  very  roots  of  his  still  whiter 
hair  when  he  became  excited,  which  he  very  often 
did,  for  he  had  grown  very  tremulous  since  I  last 
saw  him. 

"  I  merely  mention  what  all  the  world  knows," 


206  -  210 SE  EVANS. 

the  General  continued.  "  It  is  inevitable  to  every 
other  nation  as  it  was  to  Greece  and  Rome.  But 
to  think  of  a  nation  living  less  than  a  hundred 
years !  The  South  was  the  only  conservative 
element.  Had  it  pleased  Heaven  to  spare  the 
South  "  — 

"  You  acknowledge  the  hand  of  Heaven,  in 
spite  of  yourself,  my  dear !  "  ]\Irs.  Throop  said 
it  in  a  manner,  the  deadly  calm  of  which  was 
worse  than  her  husband's  excitement.  "  I  passed 
through  it  all  so  long,  long  ago,  the  lower  stages. 
Agnes  will  tell  you,  Mr.  Anderson,  I  have  not  at- 
tended service,  have  not  sung  a  hymn,  have  not 
other  than  merely  heard  Scripture  read  at  our 
family  worship,  since  I  came.  I  am  as  entirely 
done  with  all  that  as  is  our  Theodore.  I  cannot 
plant  my  feet  upon  your  world  again,  even  with 
all  my  effort  to  do  so.  IMy  husband  is  wiser  than 
he  thmks.  I  do  not  speak  of  political  matters. 
So  far,  every  nation  of  history  has  run  its  little 
career,  and  died,  even  as  each  of  its  people  has 
lived  his  or  her  lesser  life,  and  perished.  This 
nation  but  ripens  fast,  in  the  hot  summer  of  its 
wonderful  prosperity,  toward  a  rotting  and  a  ruin 
more  terrible  and  complete  than  the  race  has  ever 
before  known.     It  is  the  last  nation  of  history. 


MOSE  EVAXS.  207 

With  it,  Heaven's  long  experiment,  under  tlie  eyes 
of  a  wondering  universe,  in  reference  to  the  human 
heart,  will  have  been  accomplished,  and  the  world 
itself  will  end  !  " 

''  Dear  mother !  "  her  daughter  attempted  again. 
"  I  rarely  say  so   much,  Agnes,"  Mrs.  Throop 
continued,    "and   I   desire   merely   to    add   this: 
God's  purpose  with  the  race  before  the  flood  ran 
through  thousands  of  years;   we  well  know  the 
disaster  in  which  that  culminated  and  closed.     So 
of  the   patriarchal   period   which  followed.     The 
disastrous   ending   of   the   Jewish    dispensation  I 
need  not  mention.     The  result  with  the  Christian 
church  cannot  but  be  the  repetition  of  the  invari- 
able tragedy !     Our  INIaker  is  eternally  the  same. 
From  beginning  to  end  of  time,  the  human  heart, 
too,  is  the  same." 

"But  that  other  life,  dear  mother?"  Agnes 
says,  in  the  silence  which  follows  upon  the  calm 
certainties  of  this  Cassandra. 

"  Yes,  Agnes.  Thank  God !  And  that  better 
life  is  eternal.     Would  God  I  were  there  ! " 

("  It  is  with  ;Mrs.  Throop  as  it  was  with  Cow- 
per  at  Olney,"  my  wi!e  said  to  me  afterward. 
"  Poor,  sick  Cowper  !  As  if  all  the  blessed  crea- 
tion were  really  what  it  seemed  to  his  sorrowful 
eyes !  " 


208  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  How  like  Agnes  Throop  is  to  her  poor 
motlier,"  I  replied  to  Helen,  "  and  how  superior ! 
With  all  her  delusion,  I  do  believe  the  mother 
acknowledges  to  herself  her  own  weakness  as  con- 
trasted with  the  stronger,  happier  child,  —  the 
weakness,  not  only  of  sickness  as  contrasted  with 
health,  of  soul,  but  of  a  feeble  piety  to  a  more 
vigorous  and  beautiful,  because  more  genuine  !  ") 

"  Mother —  Helen !  "  Agnes  Throop  exclaimed, 
as  her  mother  sank  again  into  silence,  and  Avith 
the  happy  face  of  a  child,  her  finger  lifted, 
"  Hsten  !     Did  you  ever  hear  such  a  concert  I  " 

"  Mocking-birds  !  "  JNIrs.  Throop  replied,  for 
all  the  air  was  full  of  their  noise.  "  Mocking^  in- 
deed !  They  are  like  so  many  scoffers  !  I  do  not 
blame  you,  ]\Ir.  Anderson,  about  our  leaving 
Charleston  !  You  had,"  her  eyes  on  mine,  and 
reading  me  through  and  through,  "  your  o^vn 
objects  in  making  the  bargain.  But  Charleston 
has  no  existence.  Our  Charleston  !  Our  friends 
are  killed,  or  removed,  or  bankrupt,  or  actually 
taking  part  in  the  negro  rule.  Worse  there  than 
here  !  Our  frail  bodies  still  live,  Mr.  Anderson  ; 
really,  we  are  as  dead  as  is  Theodore  in  Sumter !  " 

But  Agnes  had  stolen  in  to  her  piano,  and,  not 
to  break  too  rudely  upon  the  mood  of  her  parents, 


MOSE  EVANS.  209 

was  singing,  in  a  low  voice,  the  old,  old  war  songs, 
My  Maryland  !  —  The  Bonny  Blue  Flag. 

"  You  Northern  people  must  make  allowance," 
she  said  to  me  standing  beside  her  as  she  finished 
Dixie,  with  a  curious  twitching  about  the  lips  even 
while  she  smiled.  I  suppose  it  was  because  she 
had  seen  no  one  to  whom  she  could  talk  for  so 
long  ;  possibly  it  was  to  interest  and  entertain  me 
as  she  best  could.  I  never  knew  her  to  speak  so 
freely. 

"  We  at  the  South  had  our  enthusiasm,  Mr. 
Anderson,  too  !  You  forget  we  believed  in  our 
side  as  much  as  you  did  in  yours  !  Oh,  the  ban- 
ners we  ladies  made,  the  music  we  practiced,  the 
sewing  of  uniforms,  the  rush  and  hurry  and  pride ! 
I  remember  all  my  life  the  drum  beating  every 
night  when  St.  Michael  struck  nine,  and  the 
patrol  marching  the  street  to  arrest  any  negroes 
without  a  pass ;  it  was  nothing  but  the  roll  of  the 
drum  and  the  march  of  soldiers  now,  to  defend  all 
we  had  ever  known  and  loved !  How  it  would 
thrill  us,  on  Sunday,  the  calm,  solemn,  convincing, 
most  eloquent  sermon  !  i\Iy  father  would  say 
afterward  at  dinner,  '  Oh,  yes,  the  doctor  was  able 
and  eloquent,  as  usual,  but  it  was  like  demonstrat- 
ing the  noonday  sun.'     How  can  a  person  be  more 


210  MOSE  EVANS. 

positively  certain  of  anything  than  we  were  of  the 
righteousness  of  our  cause,  so  clearly  based  upon 
the  very  Word  of  God  I  And,  then,  the  prayers, 
deep,  humble,  confident,  for  the  blessing  of 
Heaven  upon  our  efforts  to  defend  our  homes 
against  the  godless  infidelity  of  agrarianism  and 
aboUtionism !  We  never  could  understand  the 
Korth,  i\Ir.  Anderson ;  you  ought  to  remember 
you  never  could  understand  us  !  To  this  very  day 
—  but  I  am  wearying  you  so  !  " 

"  Not  at  all,  I  like  to  hear  you ;  besides,  I  will 
want  you  to  hear  me  about  another  matter  after 
a  while,"  I  said. 

She  looked  at  me  and  colored,  seemed  vexed, 
even.  She  contmued,  more  eagerly  because  of 
that  very  thing,  too  absurd  to  thmk  of  for  a 
moment. 

"  I  cannot  speak  about  the  siege  and  fall  of 
Charleston,  it  would  take  too  much  time.  And  I 
cannot  speak  of  my  brother  Theodore  Throop,  my 
only  brother,  my  noble  and  brave  brother,  so  full 
of  promise  !  Ah,  those  days  he  would  hurry  in 
from  duty,  all  brown  and  dusty  and  hungry  !  He 
was  in  Sumter  from  the  first,  you  know.  He 
would  kiss  us  all  round,  tell  us  how  the  Yankees 
kept  pounding  away  in  vain,  assure  us  they  could 


MOSE  EVANS.  211 

never  talvO  Sumter !  And  so  he  would  luugli, 
cram  Lis  haversack  ^vith  everything  to  eat  he 
could  lay  his  hands  on,  kiss  us  good-by,  and  run 
to  catch  his  boat.  And  you  people  of  the  North 
never  did  take  Sumter  !  Nor  ever  would,  if  the 
war  had  lasted  till  now !  Nor  ever  would  have 
taken  Charleston,  if  there  had  been  a  South  Caro- 
linian at  Atlanta !  I  could  tell  you  the  opinion  we 
in  Charleston  alivays  had  of  that  poor  Davis  "  — 

"  We  won't  differ  about  A«m,"  I  said. 

"  I  was  speaking,"  she  continued,  "  of  my 
brother.  We  used  to  lie  awake  all  night,  it  seems 
to  me,  until  we  got  so  used  to  it,  all  of  every  night 
listening  to  the  storm  breaking  upon  Sumter,  re- 
membering he  was  there !  At  first  we  would 
wince  and  shudder  at  every  peal,  knowing  about 
whom  the  shot  struck,  never  thinking,  hardly,  in 
comparison,  of  the  shot  and  shell  and  crashing 
houses  in  the  city.  We  wore  into  being  used  to  it, 
Mr.  Anderson.  But  never  one  moment  would  we 
have  had  him  elsewhere  !  We  were  glad  we  had 
son  and  brother  to  be  there  !  The  cause  is  lost ;  I 
sometimes  fear  we  may  have  been  mistaken  about 
it.  But  we  were  not  so  sad  as  you  may  think, 
Islv.  Anderson,  that  terrible  Thursday  when  my 
brother's  shattered   body  was  laid  in  the  sacred 

10 


212  MOSE  EVANS. 

dust  in  Sumter.  To  this  day  there  is  a  glory  and 
a  beauty  about  his  gallant  death  which  is  to  us  a 
halo  around  his  memory  forever." 

"  You  remember,"  I  said,  "  the  lines,  — 

*'  *  Though  love  repine  and  reason  chafe, 
There  comes  a  voice  without  reply, 
'T  is  man's  perdition  to  be  safe 
"When  for  the  truth  he  ought  to  die !  ' 

although,  of  course,  I  am  compelled  "  — 

"  To  say,"  she  finished  my  protest  for  me, 
"  that  you  regard  our  cause  as  being,  really,  the 
reverse  of  the  truth.  AVell,  it  was  the  truth  to 
us!" 

"  I  have  sometimes  given  money  to  objects 
which  I  thought  at  the  time  were  deserving,"  1 
said,  "  and  I  could  not  wish  the  same  back  again 
in  my  pocket  even  when  I  had  learned  that  I  was 
mistaken ;  the  intent  on  my  part  was  none  the  less 
sacred  from  recall  or  regret  for  that !  " 

"  And  we  would  not  take  back  Theodore  if  we 
could  !  "  she  replied.  "  The  truth  is,  I  never  took 
the  interest  in  the  Confederacy  as  a  political  ques- 
tion that  most  of  our  ladies  did.  It  was  Theodore, 
all  Theodore  to  me.  Oh,  Mr.  Anderson,  if  you 
had  but  known  him,  so  beautiful,  noble,  full  of 
enthusiasm  !     He  cared  for  our  independence,  was 


MOSE  EVANS.  213 

ready  to  die  for  it ;  I  cared  only  for  liiin  ^  He 
was  but  a  little  older  than  myself ;  we  loved  each 
other  so  much  ;  besides  my  parents,  he  was  all  I 
had  in  the  world  !  I  cannot  speak  of  him  ;  but  I 
will  say,  Mr.  Anderson,  never  on  earth,  never,  did 
men  and  women  more  thoroughly  believe  in  the 
righteousness  of  their  cause.  Surely  none  have 
ever  proved  their  belief  more  perfectly  by  struggle 
and  suffering !  One  great  republic  is  better,  but 
it  will  never  be  at  its  greatest,  sir,  until  it  is  not 
afraid  to  remember  with  regret,  even  with  honor, 
the  gallant  youth  who  gave  to  their  mistake,  if  it 
be  mistake,  their  all  of  conscience  and  blood  and 
soul !  I  have  not  talked  of  all  this  to  any  one," 
she  added,  "  since  we  left  Charleston.  It  is  what 
was  said  on  the  porch  that  caused  me  to  do  so. 
Let  us  talk  about  something  else.  But  I  do  think, 
Mr.  Anderson,  our  country  is  a  poor  republic  so 
long  as  it  is  afraid  to  weep  for  its  Southern  sons 
too  ;  afraid  to  drop  flowers  even  upon  their  dust. 
Yet  what  do  I  care  for  it  all !  I  'm  miserably 
selfish,  and  it  is  my  dead  brother  I  think  about." 
AVith  an  instant  alteration  of  manner,  "It  is  our 
music  has  melted  me  so.  Let  us  change  the  sub- 
ject." Saying  which  she  turned  to  her  piano,  and 
caUing  out,  "  Don't  be  angry  with  me,  pa ! "  to 


214  ZIOSE  EVANS. 

her  father  seated  outside,  played  and  sang,  a  little 
mockingly,  a  verse  or  two  of  the  Star  Spangled 
Banner. 

Helen  had  the  excellent  sense  to  help  her  to  the 
utmost.  They  played  together  a  duet  of  the  old 
school  days,  with  plenty  of  breaking  down  and 
laughter.  One  or  the  other  playing  or  singing,  we 
had  all  the  absurd,  sentimental  songs,  grave  and 
gay.  Even  Helen,  who  knew  of  other  accomplish- 
ments of  mine,  but  not  at  all  of  this,  was  electri- 
fied when  I  took  my  seat  at  the  piano,  and,  to  the 
jingle  of  its  chords,  gave  them  The  Fine  Old 
German  Gentleman !  If  Mrs.  Throop  did  not 
laugh,  the  General  certainly  did,  for  I  watched 
him  out  of  the  corner  of  my  eye  as  he  sat  smoking 
without.  When  we  had  seated  ourselves  to  sup- 
per, at  last,  we  were  all  in  better  spirits  than  that 
cemetery  of  a  home  had  known  since  it  became  a 
home  at  all. 

"  I  do  not  object  to  being  happy,"  Mrs.  Throop 
explained  from  her  seat  at  the  table.  "  We  will 
be  happy  in  heaven  forever.  But  not  here.  It 
will  be  very  soon.  If  it  were  not  that  the  idea 
was  held  by  low  people  elsewhere,  I  would  believe 
that  this  world  not  only  ends,  as  I  said,  but  is 
soon  to  end.     We  have  nearly  done  with  it !  " 


MOSE  EVANS.  215 

"  I  have  not,  mamma  !  "  It  was  Agnes,  with 
all  of  her  old  days  in  her  face,  who  said  it.  "I 
love  you  and  pa,  as  you  are  now,  dearly.  I  love 
flowers,"  her  eyes  sparkling  as  she  spoke.  "  The 
sinfjino:  of  a  little  bird  exhilarates  me  like  an 
opera ;  at  the  first  burst  of  sunshine  after  days  of 
darkness,  I  waltz  around  the  room  as  if  I  was  at  a 
ball.     I  love  music  with  all  my  soul !  " 

"  No  wonder,"  I  interjected ;  "  you  would  make 
your  fortune  in  opera !  "  and  felt,  the  instant  I 
said  it,  how  eternally  I  did  think,  as  Helen  says  I 
do,  about  the  money  value  of  everything. 

"  I  love  —  thank  you,  Mr.  Anderson,"  she  said 
—  "  horses  and  cows.  A  brilliant  moonlight  puts 
me  beside  myseK.  I  love  housekeeping  and  scold- 
ing. I  don't  care  for  company  as  I  used  to,  but 
see  how  these  friends  being  with  us  has  set  me 
talking.  It  is  foolish,  but  I  do  love  fine  laces  and 
cashmere  shawls,  beautiful  dresses  and  diamonds. 
I  love  —  love  —  everything  and  everybody  !  " 

"  I  saw  you  looking  at  her,  INIr.  Anderson,"  my 
spouse  remarked  to  me  in  the  first  instant  of  oui 
being  alone  together  afterward,  "as  if  she  was 
something  wonderful." 

And  so  she  is !  Beautiful  as  an  angel,  but  not 
at  all  in  the  sense  wherein  the  comparison  is  com* 


216  MOSE  EVANS. 

moiil}^  used  !  I  did  not  say  this  aloud,  but  Helen 
Kpoke  for  us  both  :  — 

"  Could  anything  be  more  simple  than  her  dress, 
manner,  whole  bearing  ?  She  is  as  transparent  as 
a  child,  but  such  depths,  too !  She  is  saved  by 
what  there  is  in  her  of  her  father,  from  the  excess 
of  sensitiveness  inherited  from  her  mother ;  yet 
she  is  so  utterly  alone  in  the  world,  and  thrown 
upon  herself  !  It  is  almost  a  pity  she  has  given 
herself  to  such  a  thing  as  music  for  recreation  — 
music  exclusively.  And  her  long,  long  suffering 
since  the  war  began,  no  wonder  it  has  so  intensi- 
fied her.     Do  you  not  think,  Henry  "  — 

"  Think  what  ?  "  I  ask,  Helen  pausing  so  long 
before  saying  more.     She  added  at  last,  — 

"I  do  not  like  to  speak  of  such  things.  She 
never,  of  course,  alludes  to  the  subject  with  me. 
But  do  you  not  think  a  person  can  go  to  extremes 
in  devotion,  even  ?  She  is,  never  mind  how  I 
came  to  know,  as  simple,  as  earnest,  as  trustful  in 
her  religion  as  in  all  else.  No  one  could  be  more 
silent  as  to  such  matters,  yet  I  do  know  that  Mary 
never  sat,  in  her  home  at  Bethany,  more  —  can  I 
say  really  ?  —  at  the  feet  of  Christ !  In  these  late 
years  I  am  satisfied  He  is  to  her  the  most  actual 
friend  living.     Is  there  no  such  thing  as  too  much 


MOSE  EVANS.  217 

faith  ?  Coleridge  says  there  is  as  miicli  danger  of 
o^/ft'r-worldliness  in  some  Christians  as  of  this- 
workUiness  in  the  case  of  people  generally." 

''  Did  he  ?  "  I  reply.  ''  Well,  I  know  this.  It 
is  merely  through  a  certain  peculiar  period  she  is 
passing.  If  she  is  to  live,  and  live  to  be  a  whole- 
some wife  and  mother.  Heaven  will  see  to  it  that 
there  shall  be,  in  due  time,  enough  of  earth, 
enough  of  the  purely  human,  to  balance  matters. 
This  is  merely,  I  say,  a  particular  period,  such  as 
in  some  form  we  all  pass  through,  although  it 
leaves  us  the  better  for  it  forever  !  " 

"  My  mother  wrote  no  poems,"  Helen  said  with 
a  smile,  "  but  I  will  venture  to  say  this  :  A  dia- 
mond is  no  more  self-luminous  than  any  other 
clod.  The  difference  lies,  I  suppose,  in  the  trans- 
parency, that  is,  the  power  of  receivmg  and 
transmitting  light ;  and  in  the  keeping  one's  seK 
in  connection  —  is  it  not  so?  —  wilh  the  One  who 
is  the  Light !  " 


XVII. 

The  ghosts  which  haunt  this  world  are  not 
The  spirits  of  the  huried  dead ; 
Tet  ghosts  there  are,  the  ghosts  of  what 
Have  yet  the  walks  of  life  to  tread ! 
The  vague,  phantasmal  shapes  are  we, 
But  shadows  of  the  men  to  be ; 
Made  men,  and  not  unmade,  by  death, 
Then  first  inhaling  fullest  breath, 
"  We  shall  be  like  Him !  "  Scripture  saith, 

Helex  and  myself  were,  of  course,  the  guests  of 
tlie  Throops  during  our  stay  in  Brown  County, 
and  it  was,  as  well  as  I  can  now  remember,  the 
morning  after  our  music,  that  ]\Iary  jMartha  ^yash- 
ington  had  succeeded  at  last  in  getting  my  wife  oS 
to  one  side,  to  communicate  something  she  had 
evidently  been  eager  to  say  to  her  from  the 
moment  we  came.  Yielding  to  some  pretext  of 
the  old  woman  in  regard  to  a  hatching^  out  of 
thirty-six  chickens  by  a  guinea-fowl,  Helen  had 
gone  with  her  after  breakfast  to  a  remote  poultry 
yard,  to  find  and  admire  —  nothing  of  the  kind. 

"  De  best  way  is  to  wait  in  dis  place  till  we  hear 
dat  old  guinea's   potrack  I  "  the   faithful   servant 


MOSE  EVANS.  21 D 

said  when  they  were  safely  out  of  sight  and  hear- 
ing from  the  house.  "  And  oh,  Miss  Helen,  I 
must  talk  to  you  I  What  is  we  goin'  to  do  ? 
Marster  General  he  can't  hold  out  much  longer. 
Old  missis  is  clean  crossed  over  Jordan  alread}", 
'cept  her  poor  body.  I  'm  mighty  'fraid  somethin' 
gone  wrong  about  dat  Mars'  Clammeigh.  I 
nebber  thought  he  was  one  of  us  born  at  de  Souf 
anyhow.  Dat  Mr.  Parkinson,  he  is  in  love  so  he  's 
lost  flesh.  He 's  too  flimsy  like.  He  a  minister 
an'  dar'sn't  preach  one  sermon  against  dis  fool 
freedom  de  debbil  an'  de  abolitionists  set  up. 
Phew  !  "  Strong  contempt.  "  It 's  a  man^  a 
strong,  loving  man.  Miss  Agnes  needs.  I  thought 
Mars'  Evans  was  too  low  down  once,  but  bress 
your  heart,  ]\Iiss  Helen,  dey  moved  from  de  East, 
Car'line,  I  believe.  How  dat  great,  strong  man 
loves  her  I  At  de  first  of  his  coming  on  de  place 
he  loved  her  so  he  could  n't  look  her  in  de  face, 
got  pale,  trembled  when  she  spoke  to  him." 

*'  I  'm  sorry  to  hear  it,"  Helen  said. 

"  You  wait.  Miss  Helen.  I  do  wonder  whar 
dat  guinea-fowl  gone  ;  hear  her  potrack,  potrack 
torectly.  You  see  he  overseed  de  hands.  De  men 
hands.  You  would  n't  believe  it,  Miss  Helen,  but 
dem  fool  women  say  dey  ain't  hands,  dey  is  ladies^ 


220  MOSE  EVANS. 

ladies  ob  color  !  Refuse  to  go  into  de  field !  O 
my  hebbenly  Marster,  de  folly  of  dis  freedom  1 
What  wid  dem  fool  niggers,  and  what  wid  me 
after  dem,  Miss  Agnes  has  had  a  time  !  " 

"  I  thought  jMr.  Evans  was  overseer,"  Helen 
said. 

"  So  he  was,  so  he  was,  Miss  Helen,"  the 
woman  eagerly  replied.  "  De  men  never  worked 
better  in  dere  lives.  I  mean  till  dose  fool  women 
broke  off  work,  stayed  at  de  quarter,  breshin'  dere 
heads  all  day  wid  dere  wool-cards  ;  de  men  didn't 
half  work  after  dat.  Even  dat  ^Mr.  Evans  was 
put  out,  it  was  so  new  to  him.  One  night  he  was 
in  de  '  gret  house '  after  supper,  talkin'  wid  ^Mars' 
General  about  it,  we  was  all  so  put  out  what  to  do. 

"  '  You  manage  de  men,  Mr.  Evans,'  my  Miss 
Agnes  said,  laughin'  as  she  used  to  do  in  Charles- 
ton, '  I  '11  manage  de  ladies,^  Ladies  !  You  see, 
Miss  Helen,  de  crop  Jiad  to  be  picked,  right  away, 
heaviest  crop  of  cotton  I  ever  see.  Well,  Mars' 
Evans  he  was  at  de  quarters  when  she  come.  It 
was  de  berry  next  moniin'.  See  ?  Bell  just  rung 
to  go  to  de  field.  Dat  young  missis  of  mine  !  she 
had  put  on  an  ole  straw  hat,  had  a  woolsey  dress 
on,  all  gathered  up  in  de  skirt,  cotton  basket,  an' 
her  dinner  in  it  I     All  de  fool  women  came  out  to 


MOSE  EVANS.  221 

see.  '  Now,  women,'  she  said,  laugliin',  '  we  's  all 
free,  free  as  de  air,  but  dat  cotton's  got  to  be 
picked.  Fm  goin'.  Who  '11  go  with  me  ?  '  You 
see,  Miss  Helen,  it  was  de  wai/  she  said  it !  Lor' 
bress  you,  I  shook  both  fists  at  dose  niggers, 
snatched  basket  out  ob  de  hand  ob  de  foreman  ob 
de  crop,  an'  followed  my  young  missis.  Better 
believe  dei/  did  !  Dat  Mars'  Evans,  I  thought  de 
man  would  hab  —  would  hab  !  He  took  off  his 
coat,  folded  it  up  carefully,  laid  it  on  de  top  rail 
ob  de  fence  —  an'  picked  ?  I  should  t'ink  so  ! 
But  he  kept  wid  de  men  on  dere  side  ob  de  field, 
he  dar's  n't  come  near  us.  And  dose  women 
picked  as  Hebben  made  um  to  pick !  I  'clare 
before  Hebben,  Miss  Helen,  what  ^vid  her  talkin' 
and  laughin'  an'  pickin'  ahead  of  de  field,  an' 
bettin'  me  she  'd  hab  de  heaviest  pick  !  —  I  've 
fixed  her  up  for  many  a  ball,  say  nothin'  of 
church,  in  Charleston,  but  she  nebber  looked  so 
hebbenly  pretty !  An'  she  slipped  me  off  home  to 
hab  extra  supper  for  dose  niggers  !  No  trouble 
after  dat !  Whar  can  be  dat  guinea  ?  You  hear 
a  potrack  ?  " 

"  If  I  was  in  your  Miss  Agnes's  place,  I  would 
be  very  angry  at  you  if  you  thought  I  could  love 
a  Brown  County  overseer  !  "  Helen  said.  *'  I  'in 
ashamed  of  you,  aunty  !  " 


222  MOSE  EVANS. 

The  old  woman  had  reference  to  a  power  su- 
perior to  that  of  General  Throop,  when  she  repUed 
solemnly,  "  Ole  Marster  has  fixed  who  she  sliall 
marry  !  I  don't  know  anything  about  it,  more 
dan  you,  honey.  When  dis  world  was  made  dere 
was  no  woman  for  Adam,  de  first  man  you  re- 
member, an'  so  he  had  to  make  a  woman  for 
Adam.  I  nebber  saw  de  man  yet  was  good 
enough  for  my  Miss  Agnes ;  my  young  Mars' 
Theodore  said  dat  a  thousand  times  before  he  was 
killed.  But  God  can  make  somebody  'pressly  for 
her  !  I  nebber  'low  myself  to  t'ink  it  can  be  dis 
Mr.  Evans,  'cept  dat  he  is  bein'  made  out  ob  de 
berry  dust  ob  de  ground  for  somethin'.  You  can't 
tell  how  he  has  changed  under  Miss  Agnes,  like 
linen  bleaches  in  de  sun.  Ebberybody  respects 
an'  loves  him.  An',"  continued  the  woman,  "  dat 
man  is  marster.,  if  she  is  mistress !  Lor',  Miss 
Helen,  we  broke  down  in  de  deep  mud,  ]\Iiss 
Agnes  and  I,  drivin'  back  in  de  ole  buggy  one 
day,  long  ago,  from  Brown st own.  In  de  deepest 
part  ob  de  cypress  swamp.  ]\Iars'  Mose  Evans  he 
come  alon^r  on  his  horse,  —  he  nebber  was  near 
her,  but  then  he  nebber  was  very  far  away  from 
her,  somehow,  —  jumped  down,  an'  begged  her  to 
let  him  take  her  out.     She  got  angry,  tossed  her 


MOSE  EVANS.  223 

head  dls  way,  turned  as  red  !  Refused,  said  I 
could  help  her,  slie  could  wait  till  her  pa  could 
come.  *  Mr.  Evans,  remember  your  place,  sir  ; 
you  shall  not  do  it ! '  she  said,  proud  as  could  be  I 
She  was  drippin'  wet,  night  was  fallin'.  Mars' 
Evans  never  said  one  word,  put  his  strong  arms 
around  her  like  a  baby,  carried  her  to  de  side  ob 
de  road  where  his  horse  was,  put  her  on  behind  de 
saddle  on  his  overcoat,  managed  some  way  to  get 
on  before  her,  she  had  to  hold  on  him  ;  left  me  to 
follow  after  dem  on  de  buggy  horse.  Bress  your 
soul,  Miss  Helen,  she 's  mistress,  but  he  's  marster^ 
sure !  " 

Helen  told  me  all  this,  in  substance,  out  at  the 
front  fence,  as  I  was  mending  a  martingale  before 
mounting  my  horse,  the  same  day,  to  ride  over  to 
Harry  Peters',  now  living,  as  I  believe  I  have  said, 
at  Mrs.  Evans'  old  place  near  by,  and  acting  as 
General  Throop's  overseer. 

"  Did  you  ever  know  such  a  lonely  house,  Cap- 
tain Anderson  ?  "  he  asked  me  after  we  had  fin- 
ished business  that  day.  "  I  go  over  and  am  as 
funny  as  I  know  how  to  be.  iNIiss  Agnes  laughs, 
but  it  is  a  terrible  strain  upon  her,  the  situation. 
Puss  —  I  mean  my  wife  — makes  butter  expressly 
to  take  over.     Mrs.  Throop  is  a  ghost.     Actually 


224  MOSE  EVANS. 

a  ghost,  sir,  lingering  out  of  the  grave  a  little ;  but 
my  wife,  afraid  of  her  mother,  loves  Miss  Agnes 
as  if  she  was  her  own  child  !  Oh,  I  know  Evans 
is  out  of  the  question,  perfectly  ridiculous  of 
course.  Not  even  may  be  so  ;  May  bees  of  that 
sort  don't  fly  any  month  of  the  year.  But  I  do 
wish  !  You  know  he  boarded  with  us.  AVhy,  sir, 
he  was  at  it  from  before  dav  to  breakfast,  soon  as 
supper  was  over  till  I  don't  know  when,  for  my 
wife  and  I  go  to  bed  at  dark  almost." 

"  At  what  ?  "  I  demand  ;  "  you  were  speaking 
of  Miss  Throop." 

"  And  so  I  am  now  !  "  Harry  Peters  con- 
tinues, with  as  much  heat  as  a  man  who  was  al- 
ways "  in  fun  "  could  feel.  "  At  it  ?  At  all  of  it. 
Studying,  Major  Anderson,  studying  !  He  kept 
himself  supplied  by  mail,  I  suppose,  through  old 
New  Hampshire  in  some  way,  with  books.  It  was 
like  feeding  wheat  into  a  threshing  machine,  — 
kept  the  mail  busy  !  I  've  heard  of  school-marms 
before,  but  Miss  Throop  's  the  most  powerful  one 
I  ever  came  up  with.  You  see  how  crazy  these 
poor,  deluded  negroes  are  to  learn  to  read  ;  and 
what  freedom  is  to  them,  that  lady  is  to  him. 
None  of  us  ever  joke  him  about  her ;  Job  tried 
that.     He  never  mentions  her,  nor  speaks  to  her, 


MOSE  EVANS.  225 

hardly,  so  far  as  I  know.  But  she  is  to  him  like  a 
bright  spring  day  to  a  planted  field  ;  the  soil  's 
deep,  you  can  hear  the  corn  grow  I  "  And  there- 
upon Harry  Peters  gives  me  the  story  of  the 
revolt  of  the  women,  not  at  all  as  a  joke,  for  it 
was  the  great  trouble  of  the  day  over  the  entire 
South. 

I  rode  over  the  General's  plantation  with 
Harry,  the  General  too  feeble  to  accompany  us, 
that  day.  I  was  glad  to  do  so.  The  fact  is,  I 
was  becoming  seriously  uneasy  as  to  matters. 
One  thing  I  resolved  npon,  and  that  was  to  see 
Mr.  Clammeigh  upon  the  subject,  delicate  as  it 
was,  the  day  I  reached  Charleston.  But  I  was 
glad  to  learn  all  I  could  from  the  overseer.  Dis- 
trusting Miss  Throop's  betrothed  as  I  did,  I  con- 
fess I  derived  some  comfort  from  what  Harry 
Peters  told  me  about  Mr.  Parkinson.  "  He  comes 
to  see  me  every  few  days,"  that  gentleman  said, 
while  we  were  having  a  smoke  upon  his  front 
porch  after  a  good  dinner.  "  I  had  supposed  Mose 
Evans  was  the  most  desperately  in  love  of  any 
man  I  ever  knew,  until  I  came  to  see  how  Mr. 
Parkinson  suffered.  It  is  worse  for  the  minister, 
because  he  sees  her  every  few  days  ;  besides,  they 
are  nearer  to  each  other,  Miss  Throop  and  him- 


226  MOSE  EVANS. 

self,  than  poor  Evans  can  ever  dream  of  being. 
He  is  her  minister,  too,  and  has  her  respect  and 
confidence,  as  he  has  that  of  us  all.  I  suppose  it 
is  because  of  his  being  slight-built  and  high-strung 
that  he  loves  her  so.  My  wife  — -  you  know  how 
full  women  are  of  their  mischief  - —  always  brings 
in  her  name  when  he  is  here,  just  to  see  how  pale 
he  gets,  and  how  eager  he  is.  But  I  don't  think," 
my  host  adds,  as  he  fills  another  pipe,  "  that  he  is 
her  equal,  either  I  " 

"  Why  not  ?  "  I  demand. 

"  I  like  Mr.  Parkinson  as  a  man  and  as  a  min- 
ister," Harry  Peters  adds,  "  and  nothing  is  more 
important  than  religion.  But,  the  faidt  of  his 
training,  I  suppose,  the  man  runs  too  much  in 
that ;  knows  nothing,  cares  nothing  for  politics, 
farming,  country  gossip,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. He  's  too  narrow,  too  one-sided.  It  makes 
his  religion  too  spiritual.  He  'd  have  more  prac- 
tical influence  upon  every- day  people  if  he  ate 
more  pork  and  corn-bread,  and  talked  more  about 
cotton  and  cattle.  And  then  he  is  too  much  like 
Miss  Throop  !  " 

"  Like  ]\Iiss  Throop  ?  "  I  ask. 

"  I  mean  he  is  too  nice  and  slight,  too  fine  and 
lady-like.     A  woman  likes  a  man  to   be  a  man, 


MOSE  EVANS.  227 

just  as  a  man  likes  a  woman  the  more  slie  is  a 
woman.  For  a  man  of  his  make  pretty  Molly 
Robinson  is  the  very  wife.  Plenty  of  land,  too, 
and  it 's  just  what  he  has  n't  got.  If  he  owned  a 
thousand  acres  or  so  of  good  bottom  land,  he 
^vould  light  down  on  it  out  of  the  air,  don't  you 
see  !  But  he  would  no  more  look  at  little  Molly 
Robinson,  than  Miss  Agnes  would  think  of  Mose 
Evans ;  he 's  determined  to  have  her  or  die. 
They  say  she  is  to  marry  a  gentleman  from 
Charleston,  or  he  will  get  her  yet ;  see  if  he 
does  n't." 

At  this  juncture,  my  host  branched  off  into  one 
of  his  funniest  stories,  his  nice  wife  seated  knit- 
ting, and,  I  had  almost  said,  purring  in  her  little 
rocking-chair  close  to  his  side,  she  was  so  gentle 
and  kitten-like  and  loving  —  "  Puss  "  being  her 
name,  and  continually  used.  I  liked  Harry  Peters, 
thoroughly  enjoyed  the  oxygen  of  the  man,  if  I 
may  so  speak,-  but  I  forget  what  it  was  we  all 
laughed  so  heartily  about  that  day.  I  want  to 
add  here,  however  out  of  place,  what  !Mr.  Parkin- 
son said  to  me  when  he  was  East  soliciting  funds 
for  their  church,  afterward.  Circumstances  had 
thrown  us  into  very  confidential  intimacy  then,  or 
he  never  could  have  said,  as  he  did,  ''It  seems  a 


228  MOSE  EVANS. 

sinorular  remarK  to  make,  sir,  but  I  have  come  to 
believe  that  a  man  can  cast  himself  too  passively 
upon  the  bosom  even  of  his  God  I  Our  Creator 
wants  a  man  to  be  manly !  Of  course  you  will 
understand.  One  thing  I  do  know,  there  are  cases 
where  He  refuses  to  answer  importunate  prayer  by 
anything  in  return,  outer  or  inner,  —  repels,  casts 
off  the  suppliant.  Not  only  because  that  suppliant 
is  selfish  in  his  seeking,  but  whining  and  whimper- 
ing and  indulging  in  a  sickly  sort  of  dependence, 
when  he  ought  to  stand  up  like  a  man,  bear  ter- 
rible trouble  silently,  and  do  known  duty  stoutly, 
whatever  the  duty  may  be  !  " 

But  I  never  dreamed  of  mentioning  that  remark 
a  moment  ago ;  certainly  the  maker  thereof  had 
improved  into  a  sturdier  and  far  more  happy  and 
effective  man  than  he  had  promised  to  be  before, 
when  he  thus  opened  his  heart  to  me ;  that  being 
itself,  however,  a  lingering  of  his  former  weakness. 
For  my  part,  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  be  the 
friend  confided  in :  but  not  the  friend,  of  the  two, 
who  confides,  not  if  I  can  help  it.  I  know  the 
world,  unfortunately,  too  well ! 

It  was  hard  work  to  get  away  from  Harry 
Peters's  fun,  and,  more  pleasant  to  me  still,  his 
v-ife's  perfect  enjoyment  of  it.     I  was  just  in  time 


MOSE  EVANS.  229 

for  supper  at  General  Throop's,  and  went  to  bed 
as  soon  after  as  I  politely  could.  Not  that  I  waa 
unusually  fatigued  after  my  ride  about  the  planta- 
tion, talking  with  the  hands  here  and  there  over 
the  same  all  day,  as  well  as  with  Peters ;  the  fact 
is,  I  was  seriously  perplexed.  You  observe,  I  had 
a  hundred  other  matters  besides,  pressing  upon  me 
for  decision  ;  many  thousands  of  dollars  involved. 
I  was  glad  to  get  to  bed. 

It  was  as  natural,  under  the  circumstances,  that 
Helen  and  Agnes  should  have  sat  far  into  the 
night,  all  the  rest  of  the  household  vrrapped  in 
sleep. 

"  My  heart  yearns  over  her  as  if  she  were  my 
own  and  my  only  sister,"  my  wife  said  to  me  when 
at  last  she  came  into  our  room.  "  My  knowledge 
of  the  world,  as  compared  with  hers  at  least, 
makes  me  feel  much  older.  I  do  so  desire  to  help 
her ;  and  how  can  I,  unless  I  know  how  matters 
stand  in  regard  to  that  —  Clammeigh  ?  I  heard 
many  hints  before  I  left  Charleston  of  a  new  flame 
of  his,  a  certain  Cuban  heiress.  One  thing  I  know : 
his  handsome  mansion  there  is  being  remodeled  and 
made  ready  for — something.  Agnes  well  knows 
it  is  my  sincere  affection  for  her,  not  mere  curiosity, 
which  makes  me  anxious  to  find  out  when  we  are 


230  ZIOSE  EVANS. 

to  have  lier  in  Charleston  as  Mrs.  Clammeigh,  or 
whether  there  is  any  possibility  of  her  becoming 

—  the  idea !  —  Mrs.  Parkinson,  instead." 

"  Or  whether,"  I  interposed,  "  there  is  any 
chance  for  j^oor  Evans." 

"  Nonsense  !  "  my  wife  replied,  with  such  en- 
ergy that  I  will  stand  aside  and  let  her  take  my 
place  as  narrator  of  all  that  occurred  between 
Agnes  and  herself.  Understand  distinctly,  it  is 
not  myself,  but  Mrs.  Anderson,  who  thus  pro- 
ceeds :  — 

"  I  would  so  dearly  love  to  see  you  married, 
Agnes,"  I  said  at  last.  "  In  certain  senses  of  the 
word  your  betrothed  —  may  I  speak  of  him,  dear  ? 

—  is  a  superior  man  "  — 

"  There  is  the  most  singular  weakness  in  me, 
Helen  dear,"  she  replied.  "  That  word  '  superior ' 
brings  it  to  mind.  I  never  told  a  soul  before ; 
it  is  a  species  of  hallucination.  Do  you  know,  I 
cannot  remember  when  I  did  not  consider  myself, 
I  am  ashamed  to  say  it,  somehow  a  being  superior 
to  those  around  me.  It  is  an  odd  deficiency  in  me, 
but  I  have  always  felt  as  I  suppose  a  princess  born 
to  a  throne  does.  It  is  in  my  blood.  Except 
towards  my  parents,  dearly  as  I  love  every  one, 
conscious  as  I  am  of  my  folly,  even  when  I  feel 


MOSE  EVANS.  231 

most  humble  I  have  an  absurd  sense  of  condescen- 
sion I  I  dare  say  I  am  to  be  empress  of  a  star  in 
the  other  world.  If  I  were  married  to  a  king  to- 
day, I  would  wear  crown  and  robe  and  hold 
my  court  as  if  I  were,  for  the  first  time,  in  my 
true  place.     A  singular  fancy,  is  n't  it  ?  " 

"  And  you  would  make  a  most  gracious  majesty, 
dear,"  I  said.  ''  But  to  be  a  queen  there  must  be 
—  unless  you  are  of  the  vixenish  sort,  like  Eliza- 
beth —  a  king.  Your  parents,  Agnes,  are  not  as 
strong  as  they  were,  Theodore  is  gone,  and  they 
may  be  taken,  dear.  Persons  of  your  sensitive 
nature,  so  tenderly  shielded  all  your  life  from  the 
world,  need  a  protector.  And,  Agnes  dear,  we 
will  be  so  glad  to  see  you  married." 

"  I  suppose  suffering  has  made  me  too  sensitive," 
she  replied.  "  And,  at  last,  it  lies  so  much  in  the 
individual  who  suffers,  Helen,  not  in  the  sort  or 
degree  of  the  trouble.  There  is  Mr.  Harry  Peters, 
our  overseer,"  she  said,  evading  me  still,  and  she 
seemed  resolved  to  keep  as  far  off  as  she  could 
from  not  only  speaking  but  thinking  u^oon  the 
subject.  I  was  the  more  resolved  to  know  cer- 
tainly if  I  could.  And  therefore  I  listened  but 
in  part  to  her  as  she  continued  about  Mr.  Peters. 
"  The   funniest    man    I    ever    knew,"   she   said. 


232  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  Papa  and  I  dined  there  one  day  by  special  invi 
tation,  and  it  was  all  very  grand.  They  had  soup 
and  fish  fii'st.  As  their  girl  was  bringing  in  after- 
ward an  enormous  turkey,  she  tripped  a.vl  fell, 
and  dashed  it  full  in  Mr.  Peters's  face.  I  thought 
—  suppose  it  had  been  papa  at  the  head  of  his 
table  !  how  I  trembled !  But  Mr.  Peters  only 
laughed  ;  laughed  and  made  us  laugh  by  his  funny 
ways,  till  it  seemed  the  best  joke  in  the  world  ! 
His  dear  little  wife  thinks  it  is  all  so  amusing,  and 
you  couldn't  help  enjoying  their  enjoyment.  He 
has  done  papa  good  like  medicine  ;  I  never  knew 
him  to  laugh  so  since  secession.  When  we  were 
threatened  with  cotton  worms,  Mr.  Peters  turned 
that  into  a  joke.  When  his  children  were  lost  in 
the  swamp,  he  was,  his  wife  told  me,  certain  of 
finding  them,  keeping  the  household  and  all  the 
searchers  in  high  spirits  till  they  were  found,  and 
then  he  cried  like  a  woman,  even  while  he  was 
laughing  more  than  before.  He  is  the  brightest, 
most  joyous  person  I  ever  knew,  and  nothing  but 
a  poor,  lame,  sickly  overseer  !  That  Mr.  Archer 
is  so  happy  because   he  drinks,  but  Mr.    Peters 


is" 


"  ^^Tiat  kind  of  a  person,  Agnes,  was  that  Mr 
Mose  Evans  ?  "  I  began. 


310 SE  EVANS.  233 

"In  a  moment  Helen.  I  think  I  am  exactly 
like  ]Mr.  Peters.  By  nature.  But,  Helen  dear, 
God  alone  knows  how  I  have  suffered.  It  was  not 
merely  our  long  and  terrible  time  in  Charleston 
throuorh  the  siefje.  I  do  not  believe  we  had  one 
night  of  sound  sleep  during  all  those  terrible  — 
centuries  they  seem  to  me  now.  Nor  was  it  the 
loss  of  property  and  the  breaking  up  of  the  largest, 
certainly  tlie  most  refined,  at  least  the  dearest 
circle  of  friends  heart  could  desire.  It  is  such  a 
strange  feeling,  too,  to  have  lost  your  country. 
Papa  feels  that  everything  one  calls  country  is  as 
utterly  lost  as  if  it  had  been  swallowed  up  in  the 
sea  ;  he  is  the  resident  to-day  —  not  citizen  —  of 
that  nation  in  all  the  world  which  he  likes  least. 
There  is  our  removing,  too,  to  such  a  region  as 
this !  And  then,  do  I  not  know,  my  father  and 
mother  must  soon  go,  and  leave  me  alone  in  the 
world !  So  far  as  this  life  is  concerned  there  never 
was  a  person  more  entirely  without  a  future  !  Oh, 
Helen,  if  God  had  but  spared  Theodore !  Did  j^ou 
know  him,  Helen  ?  It  was  my  being  his  own  sis- 
ter made  me  fancy  myself  a  princess  ;  I  worshiped 
him  as  my  king,  for  he  was  a  king.  The  most 
beautiful,  the  noblest  !  —  and,  oh  how  glad  I  am, 
for  his  dear  sake,  that  he  is  dead  !     I  wake,  dear, 


234  MOSE  EVANS. 

and  lie  and  listen  to  the  great  river  flowing  by,  and 
the  heavy  breathing  of  the  wind  rising  and  falling, 
as  in  sleep,  among  the  live-oaks,  lifting  and  let- 
ting fall  their  long  gray  moss  ;  so  far  away,  alone, 
alone !  " 

After  some  silence  she  added,  "  I  saw  a  lovely 
little  flower  by  the  roadside  as  I  got  out  of  the 
buggy  at  our  gate,  coming  back  from  church  last 
Sunday,  and  I  put  a  stick  of  wood  on  either  side 
of  it  to  protect  it.  When  I  went  on  Monday  to 
transplant  it,  I  found  the  poor  little  flower,  crushed 
down  in  the  print  of  a  mule's  hoof !  Oh,  Helen, 
doesn't  it  seem  sometimes  as  if  God  didn't  care 
what  trod  upon  3^ou  !  I  am  tempted  at  times  to 
think  I  'm  no  more  to  Him  than  a  Jamestown  weed, 
any  vile  thing  that  chance  wheel  or  hoof  may 
trample  into  the  mire  !  It  does  me  good,  Helen, 
to  know  it  is  a  Father  who  strikes  me  so  hard. 
But  when  I  know  that  God  is  also  a  man,  who 
allowed  Himself  to  be  trodden  down  under  wicked 
feet,  his  greatest  glory  and  happiness  afterward 
and  forever  because  of  that^  I  have  only  to  feel 
that  He  is  with  me  in  all  that  happens,  and  I  am 
singing  again  like  a  bird !  " 

As  I  kiss  her  cheek,  down  which  the  tears  are 
silently  flowing,  I  whisper,  "  I  asked  you  about 


MOSE  EVANS.  235 

^Ir.  Evans,  dear,  because  we  met  liim  as  we  came 
here,"  and,  drawing  her  closer  to  me  as  we  sat  in 
the  dimly  lighted  room,  trying  to  put  her  in  my 
place  when  at  the  hotel,  I  told  her  the  whole  story 
of  our  meeting  Mose  Evans  on  that  occasion.  I 
did  not  leave  out  one  thing  !  I  do  not  know  how 
I  worded  it,  but  I  told  her  that  there  was  no  say- 
ing what  such  a  person  as  Evans  might  become. 
And  I  told  her  of  the  quiet,  silent,  desperate  de- 
termination of  that  foolish,  foolish  man  !  Once  or 
twice  she  tried  to  turn  the  conversation,  but  I  can 
be  as  self-willed  as  anybody,  when  I  exert  myself. 
I  left  nothing  unsaid.  When  there  was  nothing 
more  to  he  said,  she  only  kissed  me  and  replied, 
"  You  must  be  so  tired,  Helen  dear.  It  is  after 
midnight.  What  a  shame  in  me  to  keep  you  up 
so  !  You  will  find  a  lighted  candle  and  a  cross 
husband  in  your  room.  Good-night,  dear.  May 
you  have  pleasant  dreams,  —  daring  the  nighty 
too  !  " 

I  could  but  return  her  good-night  kiss  and  leave 
her.  What  else  could  I  do,  Henry  ?  She  is  the 
most  complete  combination  of  opposites  I  ever 
knew.  She  is  more  dependent  upon  others,  jQt 
more   self-reliant,  than   any  other   person  I  ever 

met ;   so   impulsive   and   unreserved   in   tempera- 
11 


236  MOSE  EVANS. 

ment,  yet  so  silent  where  her  inmost  heart  is  con- 
cerned. These  years  of  bitter  trouble  have  in- 
tensified all  that  is  beautiful  in  her  nature.  Her 
passion  for  music,  too,  —  spending  whole  days  at 
her  piano,  Aunty  Washington  tells  me,  —  has  had 
the  same  effect.  Perhaps,  too,  if  I  had  her  child- 
like temperament  and  her  terrible  trouble,  I  might 
have  the  same  simple  faith.  I  do  believe  her 
deepest  wants  are  so  entirely  satisfied  by  it  that 
she  feels  far  less  than  she  otherwise  would  the 
need  of  any  other,  but  trusts  Him  as  an  actual, 
living,  real  Friend,  the  wisest,  strongest,  most 
sympathizing  Person  in  the  universe,  —  all  the 
world,  all  her  future,  completely  in  his  hands ! 


XVIII. 

"  No  sails  on  all  the  main  there  be  "  — 

"  And  yet  your  ships  shall  come  from  sea!  " 

"  All  earth  lies  frozen,  bare,  and  cold  "  — 

"  Your  violets  blue  shall  burst  the  mold !  " 

"  Dense  darkness  dyes  all  earth  and  skies  "  — 

"  Yet  none  the  less  the  sun  shall  rise !  " 

"  My  dead  are  dead!  I  weep  in  vain  "  — 

"  More  beauteous  for  that  bitter  rain, 

"  Your  dead,  poor  heart,  shall  live  again !  " 

Many  a  month  had  passed  since  the  visit  of 
Helen  and  myself  to  the  Throops  in  their  home 
out  West.  I  was  engrossed,  meanwhile,  in  busi- 
ness so  extensive,  increasing,  and  pressing,  as  to 
keep  me  almost  continually  upon  the  wing  be- 
tween Charleston,  New  York,  St.  Louis,  and  San 
Francisco.  Even  during  my  periods  of  rest  in 
Charleston,  it  was  rarely  I  could  get  home  fi*om 
our  office  to  Helen  until  near  midnight.  Very 
often  my  wife  would  wake  up  only  enough  to  say, 
"  And  here  you  are  at  last,  are  you  !  You  are 
killing  yourself,  Henry.  But  I  have  not  been 
thinking  about  you.     Oh,  Henry,  how  lonely,  how 


238  MOSE  EVANS. 

very  lonely  Agnes  must  be !  "  Generally  I  was 
too  tired  to  do  more  than  assent  to  this,  and  go  to 
sleep.  Even  when  Helen  read  to  me,  as  I  ate  at 
table,  Agnes  Throop's  letters,  I  did  not  listen  as  I 
should,  especially  as  some  letter  in  reference  to 
land  was  sure  to  be  pressing  upon  me  for  an 
answer  just  then.  The  fact  is,  I  was  making  hay 
while  the  sun  shone,  knowing  that  the  market  was 
sure  to  slacken  ;  and  slacken  it  did,  or  I  never 
could  have  found  time  for  these  pages,  I  assure 
you.  It  was  the  same  with  my  correspondence  so 
far  as  Evans  was  concerned.  All  these  days  he 
was  stud^^mg  at  a  certain  venerable  college  at  the 
East.  Every  time  I  saw  the  tops  of  its  buildings 
from  the  car  windows,  when  journeying  in  that 
region,  I  would  say  to  myself,  "  The  next  time  I 
come  this  way  I  will  certainly  stop  !  "  Yet  I 
never  did.  Because  I  never  could.  Perhaps  it 
was  because  I  was  compelled  to  write  such  tele- 
grammic  letters  in  reply,  that  his  were  so  brief. 
About  all  I  could  get  from  them  was,  that  what 
time  he  was  not  upon  horseback  there,  or  in  the 
gymnasium,  he  was  in  New  York,  Boston,  or 
Philadelphia.  I  had  a  sense  of  keen  regret  at 
this,  until  we  got  as  clerk  a  graduate  from  the 
institution,  perfectly  unfitted,  I  am  obliged  to  say, 


MOSE  EVANS.  239 

by  his  books  and  dyspepsia,  for  business,  who  ex- 
pL\ined  matters.  It  was  only  the  exercise  Evans 
took,  coupled,  I  suppose,  with  his  power  of  pro- 
found sleep,  which  enabled  him  to  master  his 
amazing  amount  of  study,  and  keep  up,  in  all,  I 
had  almost  written,  its  splendor,  his  ^agorous  con- 
stitution. "  I  had  no  personal  acquaintance  with 
him,"  Parker,  our  clerk,  told  me.  "  He  is  a  man 
of  fine  presence,  but  somewhat  reserved,  and  he 
was  simply  one  among  several  hundreds  of  us 
there."  Parker  added  that  he,  Parker  himself, 
was,  —  and  I  feel  satisfied  it  was  so  much  the 
worse  for  him  in  a  business  point  of  view,  —  a 
student  taking  the  regular  course,  while  Evans 
took  an  optional  and  irregular  one,  Parker  being  a 
"  CHo  "  too,  whatever  that  means,  w^hile  my  friend 
was  a  "  Whig."  Very  soon  I  turned  over,  not  the 
letters  merely,  but  the  entire  correspondence  with 
Evans,  to  my  wife,  whose  interest  in  him  seemed 
to  have  wonderfully  increased  of  late.  Although 
she  gave  me  items  now  and  then  from  his  letters 
while  he  was  at  the  college  mentioned,  and  after 
he  went  to  Europe,  she  never  had  one  at  hand 
when  I  did  have  time  to  read  it.  My  general  im- 
pression was  that  she  slipped  them  into  the  en- 
velope   conveying    her    o^vn    epistles    to    Agnes 


240  MOSE  EVANS. 

Throop.  To  this  day  I  do  not  know  whether 
Evans  made  allusions  in  them  to  Agnes  or  not. 
My  wife  was  quite  silent  upon  the  subject.  And 
so  months,  and  months  upon  months,  fled  away  ; 
it  is  impossible  for  me,  without  referring  to 
memoranda,  to  say  how  many.  "Which  prepares 
my  way  to  tell  of  what  comes  next  in  order  among 
the  events  of  this  statement  of  facts. 

It  is  very  singular  !  —  I  mean  how  persons  come 
upon  each  other,  compelled  unconsciously  the  one 
toward  the  other  by  some  secret  magnetism.  The 
first  time  I  was  in  New  York,  for  instance,  the  one 
man,  of  all  the  million  there,  who  knew  me, 
slapped  me  upon  the  shoulder  as  I  stood  at  the 
window  of  a  broker's  office  in  Nassau  Street. 
Since  I  became  superintendent  of  a  Sabbath- 
school  in  Charleston,  I  have  never  entered  a 
theatre  but  once.  I  was  in  Boston,  and  I  dropped 
in  to  see  the  Black  Crook,  solely  to  be  able  intel- 
ligently to  warn  our  young  people  against  such 
things.  Only  one  person  was  North  from  our 
school,  a  young  man,  and  I  had  not  taken  my  seat 
before  he  rose  from  the  next  chair  exclaiming, 
"  Why,  Mr.  Anderson,  how  did  you  know  I  was 
here  ?  "  I  merely  took  his  arm  and  led  him  sor- 
rowf ully  out,  and  he  cannot  understand  it  to  this 
day. 


MOSE  EVANS.  241 

It  was  such  an  accident  in  regard  to  the  Scotia, 
I  happened  to  be  spending  three  days  at  our  office 
on  Wall  Street.  Our  treasurer  had  remarked 
casually,  "  I  see  the  Scotia  is  signaled,"  and  his 
remark  came  back  to  me  as,  many  hours  later,  I 
was  crossing  to  Jersey  City.  Our  ferry-boat  was 
passing  under  the  stern  of  the  great  steamship  ;  I 
was  envying  the  passengers  clustered  along  the 
railing,  saying  to  myself.  Please  Heaven,  a  little 
more  money  made,  and  Helen  and  I  will  take  the 
children  with  us  and  see  how  the  .Old  World  looks 
these  days ! 

At  the  instant  one  of  the  gentlemen  on  board, 
standing  with  a  lady  beside  him  apart  from  the 
rest,  leaned  over  the  railing,  lifted  his  traveling 
cap  to  me,  calling  down  at  the  same  time,  "  Good 
evening,  sir.  All  well  ?  "  and  pointed  me  out  to 
the  lady,  doubtless  his  wife,  as  he  replaced  his 
cap.  I  knew  immediately  that  it  was  some  officer 
in  the  Confederate  service  who.  had  known  me 
during  the  war.  As  many  of  them  as  could  do  so 
had  gone  across  the  Atlantic.  I  have  no  time  to 
talk  about  that  just  now,  but  certainl}^  their  mis- 
taken rebellion  was  the  most  magnificent  mistake 
in  point  of  dimension,  desperation,  and  utterness 
of  disaster,  history  has  ever  known,  and  I  have  a 


242  MOSE  EVANS. 

hearty  liking  for  the  men,  greatly  as  I  rejoice  in 
their  defeat.  So  I  said  to  myself  of  this  instance, 
Glad  enough  you  are  to  get  back,  I  '11  be  bound  ; 
glad  and  proud  by  this  time  in  your  inmost  soul, 
that  your  foolish  swords  failed  to  hew  this  con- 
tinent into  miserable  fragments ! 

I  suppose  I  had  the  eternal  instinct  —  surely  it 
is  of  God  in  us  all  —  toward  the  returning  prodi- 
gal as  the  crowd  rushed  ashore  pell-mell  from  the 
ferry-boat.  I  acknowledge  it  did  occur  to  me 
that  my  friend,  whoever  it  was,  might  want  a 
home  upon  some  of  our  lands,  like  General  Throop, 
for  instance.  But  my  chief  reason,  thank  Heaven, 
was  to  have  again  in  my  own  one  of  those  cordial 
hands  !  There  is  Helen,  too,  and  Agnes  Throop, 
—  they  may  know  his  wife  ;  at  least  there  will  be 
an  item  for  to-night's  letter  home.  I  need  not, 
howcA^er,  have  made  such  short  work,  on  my  way 
to  the  Scotia's  dock,  of  the  business  that  brought 
me  over  from  New  York.  When  I  got  to  the 
picket  paling,  I  had  no  card  of  admittance  and 
had  to  wait  without  while  the  steamer  was  slowly 
warped  ashore  by  cable  and  capstan.  But  my 
friend  was  as  eager,  if  less  demonstrative.  His 
wife  still  beside  him,  he  stood  upon  a  coil  of  rope 
on  the  quarter-deck,  searching  for   me  with  his 


MOSE  EVANS.  243 

eyes  among  the  struggling  crowd  outside  the  pick- 
ets. It  took  him  but  a  few  moments  to  succeed  in 
that.  Now,  I  firmly  believe  if  you  were  to  see  an 
inhabitant  of  Mars  through  a  telescope,  you  could 
tell  his  culture  and  breeding  on  the  instant.  Cer- 
tainly you  would  have  had  no  trouble  as  to  decis- 
ion in  this  case,  —  something  in  the  very  gesture 
and  bearing  of  the  person,  Heaven  knows  what ! 
As  he  sees  me  he  lifts  his  cap  and  waves  it,  which 
I  acknowledge  by  lifting  my  hat  upon  the  end  of 
my  umbrella  and  bobbing  it  to  him  above  the 
heads  of  the  crowd  about  me. 

And  now  followed  the  deliberate  bringing  ashore 
of  the  trunks  and  the  ranging  of  them  on  the  floor 
within  the  pickets,  in  lines  and  by  the  hundreds, 
for  the  inspection  of  the  custom-house  people.  I 
was  diverted  from  all  this,  however,  by  a  party  of 
well-dressed  Frenchmen  waiting  within  the  inclos- 
ure,  near  the  fence  dividing  me  from  them,  for  a 
passenger  aboard.  Before  their  friend  could  come 
ashore  they  laughed,  gesticulated,  chattered,  as  I 
had  previously  supposed  impossible  to  man  ;  but 
when  that  friend  climbed  down  to  them  in  some 
wholly  impossible  way  from  the  vessel,  freshly 
charged  with  the  peculiar  electricity  of  Paris,  the 
kissing,  shrugging  of  shoulders,  chattering  all  at 


244  MOSE  EVANS. 

once,  indescribable  to-do,  was  painfully  suggestive 
of  Darwin  ! 

My  attention,  however,  was  called  off  by  my 
Confederate  officer,  whom  I  had  forgotten,  but 
who  had  come  ashore  unseen  and  now  very  quietly 
put  his  hand  through  the  pickets. 

"  Mr.  Anderson,  glad  to  see  you  !  " 

The  words  were  spoken  with  genial  warmth, 
yet  as  quietly  as  if  we  had  parted  only  the  day  be- 
fore. 

"  How  are  you,  general  —  colonel  "  — 

I  actually  stammered  and  hesitated,  blushed  I 
dare  say,  as  I  gave  my  hand  through  the  bars.  A 
large  man,  military  bearing,  plaid  cap,  gray  over- 
coat, magnificent  beard  of  golden  hair,  glad  to  see 
me,  with  all  his  soul  in  his  noble  eyes,  yet  so  en- 
tirely self-possessed,  in  contrast,  at  least,  with 
those  Frenchmen  making  such  fools  of  themselves. 

"  Why,  I  never  dreamed  "  — I  began. 

"  And  you  had  my  letters  from  Germany  ?  " 
So  cordial,  yet  so  quiet ! 

Mose  Evans !  But  why  should  I  have  been  so 
completely  taken  aback  ?  Possibly  because  I  had 
not  the  least  idea  of  meeting  him.  It  was  so  sud- 
den. The  man  was  so  utterlv  changred,  yet  so  en- 
tirely  the  same  !     But,  I  demand  of  myself,  even 


.yOSE  EVANS.  245 

then,  why  should  I  have  that  instant  sense  of 
being  so  many  inches  shorter,  so  many  pounds 
lighter,  than  my  friend  ?  Such  a  queer  fancy  of 
being  quicksilver  in  contrast  with  bullion  ?  I  am 
so  frank  with  Helen,  I  told  her  even  this,  weeks 
after.  "  You  are  of  wholly  different  build  and 
birth,  Henry,"  she  said.  '^  You  certainly  had  the 
part  of  mercury  toward  him,  if  you  say  so,  separat- 
ing him  from  his  dirt !  "  Married  people  grow  to 
think  together,  and  I  had  made  the  same  reflec- 
tion. Only  it  was  not  true.  It  was  Miss  Agnes 
Throop.  I  have  made  Helen  a  Yankee  girl,  and 
Helen  says  she  has  made  me  into  a  Southerner. 
Why,  the  power  of  the  Founder  of  our  faith  is  but 
the  influence  upon  you,  sir  or  madam,  of  one  per- 
son upon  another ;  only  that  His  is  infinite  influ- 
ence ! 

I  had  spent  so  much  time  of  late  among  the 
hurried  inhabitants  of  Wall  Street,  that  the  con- 
trast of  Mose  Evans  to  them  was  the  more  re- 
freshing, the  immediate  comparison  of  my  friend 
with  those  effervescing  Frenchmen  making  his 
quiet  of  manner,  I  suppose,  the  more  striking. 
His  trunk  was  entangled  among  hundreds  of 
others  nearly,  yet,  conversing  with  me  meanwhile 
ahnost  as  undisturbedly  as  if  we  were  alone  to- 


246  MOSE  EVANS. 

getlier  in  some  secluded  spot,  he  stood  like  a  statue 
amid  the  hurry  and  fuss  and  confusion  until  his 
turn  came,  and  nothing  more  easy  and  smooth 
than  his  management  of  matters  during  the  search 
of  his  trunk  by  the  officials.  I  think  it  was  by 
reason  of  his  steady  mastery  of  himself.  Besides, 
he  was  so  perfectly  well,  so  exceedingly  strong  and 
happy  !  "  And,  now,  if  you  please,  this  one  ;  it  is 
a  lady's,"  he  said  to  the  custom-house  officer,  pro- 
ducing the  key  of  a  very  cathedral  of  a  trunk, 
next  his,  as  he  spoke,  avoiding  casting  his  eyes  for 
a  moment  in  that  direction  as  the  lid  was  being 
hfted. 

"  I  saw  you  beside  her  on  deck,  Mrs.  Evans,  I 
suppose.  Allow  me  to  congrat  "  —  but  I  think 
he  could  not  have  heard  me,  those  Frenchmen 
were  so  noisy,  as  he  merely  paused  in  mid  act 
from  stroking  his  beard  with  the  palm  of  his  left 
hand,  and  looked  at  me.  Under  sudden  impulse 
I  appointed  to  meet  him  that  evening  at  a  hotel  in 
the  city,  and,  elbowing  my  way  out  of  the  crowd, 
I  lef t ;  my  feeling  was  exactly  as  when  great  Con- 
federate news  arrived  where  I  was  in  the  South 
during  the  war,  and  I  kept  from  knowing  it  as 
long  as  I  could. 

"  I  am  so  very  glad,"  he  said,  "  to  see  you," 


MOSE  EVANS.  247 

and  he  took  my  hand  in  both  of  his,  yet  once 
more,  when  we  met  again  in  the  parlor  of  the 
hotel.  It  was  unnatural  or  natural  in  me,  as 
you  please ;  I  suppose  my  business  has  made  it 
my  instinct ;  but  how  sharply  I  watched  hiin  as 
he  took  off  his  orange  peel  of  a  cap,  for  he  had 
just  come  in,  laid  off  his  gray  coat,  passed  his 
hands  over  his  head,  face,  voluminous  beard,  and 
then  took  my  palm  in  his  own  again. 

"  Oh,  over  Germany,  the  Alps,  Italy,  France, 
England,  of  course,  Scotland,  Ireland,"  he  an- 
swered to  a  question  of  mine  about  his  travels.  If 
there  had  been  the  least  affectation  in  him  !  The 
smallest  beginning  of  boastfulness,  even  the  shade 
of  an  uneasy  feeling  !  There  was  disquiet  on  my 
part.  I  am  satisfied  he  must  have  observed  it ; 
even  that  did  not  disturb  his  childUke  calm.  He 
was  so  entirely  certain,  so  profoundly  happy  !  At 
least,  if  one's  outer  man  is  any  reliable  evidence 
thereof. 

"  Now  for  a  bath,"  he  said,  after  we  had  chat- 
tered for  some  time  about  everything  the  world 
around  except  what  I  was  mainly  interested  to 
know,  "  and  then,  dinner." 

I  almost  blushed  at  myself  in  my  mirror  in  the 
act  of  dressing  with  unusual  care.     Why  should  I 


248  MOSE  EVANS. 

not  keep  on  my  business  suit  of  Scotcli  gray,  since 
it  was  merely  with  Mose  Evans  I  was  to  dine  ? 
He  was  not  in  the  parlor  of  the  hotel  when  I  came 
down,  for  there  is  something  of  the  slowness  of 
General  Throop  in  every  Southerner  I  ever  knew, 
and  I  was  glad  that  I  had  no  demorahzing  suspi- 
cion of  being  ill  dressed,  when  I  found  m  my  cor- 
ner of  the  parlor  several  of  the  passengers  by  the 
steamer,  evidently  from  among  the  best  people! 
AVhat  a  transforming  power  in  leisure  and  money, 
clothing,  education,  travel,  freedom  from  consum- 
ing care,  I  said  to  myself  of  the  gentlemen  and 
ladies  present,  recalling  to  mind  that  I  had  never 
seen  in  the  House  of  Lords,  when  in  London, 
or  out  of  it,  a  superior  if  equal  type  of  people. 
My  attention  was,  however,  immediately  fastened 
upon  the  person  who  was,  as  naturall}^  as  Victoria 
in  her  drawing-room,  the  queen  of  this  assembly. 
And  it  was  a  lady  so  much  of  the  English  style 
of  beauty,  such  impressiveness  of  size,  contour, 
bearing,  as  that  it  was  impossible  to  say  whether 
she  was  matron  or  maid ;  little  over  twenty  in 
either  case.  There  was  something  in  her  perfect 
repose  as  she  sat  upon  the  sofa  amid  her  volumes 
of  silk — lavender  color,  I  believe  it  was  —  and 
lace,  her  hands  lying  in  mutual  embrace  upon  her 


MOSE  EVANS.  249 

lap,  the  cool  gray  of  her  singularly  open  eyes,  the 
motionless  poise  of  her  erect  head, — something 
that  reminded  one  of  an  Egyptian  statue.  Im- 
pressive is  the  word,  and  a  more  impressive 
woman  I  never  saw  in  my  hfe.  Had  he  been 
Prince  Albert  in  the  queen's  drawing-room,  my 
friend  could  not  have  been  more  completely  at 
home  with  all  when  he  entered,  well  dressed,  but 
without  the  least  remainder  of  courtier  or  fop. 
"Were  it  not  that  there  was  no  least  intention  of 
the  sort  on  his  part,  there  was  the  graciousness  of 
blood  in  the  cordial  way  in  which  he  came  first  to 
me  to  shake  hands  and  then  turned  with  me,  as  I 
rose,  to  her  Majesty,  the  queen  upon  the  sofa. 

'*  I  have  often  spoken  of  you  to  her.  It  is  at 
her  request,"  he  whispered,  as  he  led  me  forward. 
"  Allow  me  "  — 

It  was  the  sudden  and  insufferable  nuisance  of 
the  gong  in  the  corridor,  and  not  any  embarrass- 
ment upon  my  part,  which  prevented  my  catching 
one  syllable  of  what  followed.  *'  If  you  will  ac- 
cept Mr.  Anderson's  arm,"  he  was  saying,  as  the 
gastronomic  thunder  rolled  away  do^vn  the  valleys, 
so  to  speak,  of  the  hotel,  "  I  will  assist  your  father  ; 
he  is  used  to  me  you  know,"  and  I  observed  the 
old  gentleman  upon  the  sofa  beside  her  seemed  a 
confirmed  invalid. 


250  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  You  cannot  think  how  kind  he  has  been  to  my 
father,"  my  companion  said,  as  we  took  our  seats 
at  the  table  set  apart  in  the  dining-hall  for  our 
company,  to  whom,  as  we  were  seating  ourselves, 
Mr.  Evans  introduced  me.  "  We  met  in  Egypt. 
My  father  had  a  passion  to  ascend  the  p}Tamids," 
the  lady  continued.  "  ]\Ir.  Evans  would  hardly 
suffer  the  Arabs  to  touch  him  ;  he  almost  carried 
him  up  in  his  arms.  Mr.  Evans  is  ver}^  strong." 
And  well  I  knew  she  intended  to  say  "  large,"  but 
was  withheld  by  her  social  tact,  although  I  am  not 
considered  what  is  usually  styled  a  small  man,  I 
hope.  A  higher  instance  of  social  poise,  yet  power, 
I  never  met  in  a  woman ;  besides,  I  was  wonder- 
ing, as  we  sat,  if  the  diamond  ring  upon  her  finger 
meant  marriage  or  not.  Just  then  her  father  said, 
in  a  querulous  way,  from  the  other  side  of  her, 
"Edith,  my  dear!"  and  my  companion  had  to 
listen  to  certain  remarks  from  a  spectacled,  and, 
I  dare  say,  quite  distinguished  German  across  the 
table,  and  translate  them,  not  worth  uttering  in 
the  first  place,  to  her  father.  When  that  father 
interrupted  us  in  the  parlor  after  dinner,  in  the 
same  way,  in  reference  to  a  French  and  copi- 
ously moustached  politician  present,  I  began  to 
fear  it  was  a  weakness  of  the  old  gentleman,  rhe 


HOSE  EVANS.  251 

more  so  as  he  seized  speedy  occasion  to  tell  me 
that  his  daughter  was  equally  conversant  with 
Spanish  and  Italian.  Certainly  she  was  as  uncon- 
scious of  possessing  any  special  accomplishment  in 
the  matter  as  she  seemed  to  be  during  the  music 
she  favored  us  with  that  night.  I  am  not  myself 
fond  of  brilHant  performance  either  with  the  piano 
keys  or  the  voice,  yet  I  do  admire  all  along  the 
subtle  and  exquisite  mechanism  of  the  effort,  not 
the  result  at  all  ;  it  is  the  marvelous  machinery 
producing  the  result  which  I  encore. 

"  You  cannot  think  how  embarrassed  I  was  all 
the  evening,"  I  said  to  Evans  when  he  was  in  my 
room  next  day. 

"At  what?"  my  friend  demanded  in  his  even 
wav.  Now  I  was  not  afraid  of  Mose  Evans  at  all : 
preposterous  indeed  if  I  should  be  !  "  Because  the 
gong,"  I  said,  "  drowned  somewhat  my  introduc- 
tion to  the  lady.  I  could  not  well  ask  her  if  she 
was  your  wife.  To  this  moment  I  do  not 
know  "  — 

I  was  surprised  at  the  sudden  and  strong  color 
suffusing  my  friend's  whole  face  as  I  rattled  on  ; 
less  of  modesty  it  seemed  than  of  anger.  He  sat 
looking  at  me,  as  the  color  died  away  from  his  face, 
almost  curiously,  as  if  he  doubted  his  ears  or  my 
sanity  ;  at  last  he  replied,  — 


252  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  I  had  hardly  expected  it  of  you,  ]\Ir.  Anderson. 
Of  you^  —  knowing  the  facts  of  my  history  as  you 
do!" 

There  was  quite  a  silence.  I  was  nettled  by 
the  tone  and  manner  of  the  man ;  angry,  I  sup- 
pose, chiefly  at  myself.  "  The  lady,  Miss  Edith 
Livingstone,"  he  said  after  a  while,  "  lives  near 
this  city.  We  met  at  Cairo,  afterward  at  St. 
Petersburg.  She  was  traveling  with  her  invalid 
father,  and  I  had  the  opportunity  of  being  of  some 
small  service  in  Paris  and  London.  She  has  no 
more  idea  of  anj^thing  of  the  kind,"  color  rising 
again,  "than  myself."  I  hardly  thought  it  wise 
to  tell  him  so,  but  if  that  thoroughly  accomplished 
woman  of  the  world  did  not  have  some  thought  of 
the  kind,  I  am  mistaken.  Nothing  in  the  least 
unmaidenly,  of  course  ;  but  there  was  a  certain 
something  in  the  cool  gray  eyes  and  in  the  move- 
ment of  those  clasped  hands,  when  my  friend  came 
and  went  during  our  few  days  at  that  hotel !  I 
have  mentioned  the  matter  to  Helen,  yet  we  may 
both,  it  is  true,  be  mistaken. 

Strange  to 'say,  my  new  friend,  so  thoroughly 
ni}^  old  friend,  also,  was  far  more  at  ease  with  me 
than  I  was  with  him.  I  rejoiced  in  and  yet  re- 
sented the   culture  of  the   man.     There   was,  in 


MOSE  EVANS.  253 

comparison  with  myself,  a  size,  a  steadiness,  an  ab- 
solute confidence,  a  measure  of  youth  yet  seniority, 
which  amazed,  at  least  impressed  me  almost  to 
irritation.  Yet,  as  we  sat  late  into  the  night  over 
our  dessert  that  day,  dining  together  in  my  parlor 
at  the  hotel,  he  was,  for  all  his  perfectly  cut  broad- 
cloth and  snowy  linen,  and  easy  use  of  napkin  and 
fork  and  waiter,  merely  —  Mose  Evans  !  When  I 
say  he  was  utterly  changed,  and  was  not  altered 
in  the  least  degree,  I  suppose  the  explanation  Hes 
in  his  being  a  simple  development  of  the  inner  man 
along  the  lines  of  his  nature,  which  I  knew  before. 
I  do  wonder  if  it  was  because  he  was  born  South  ? 
—  such  a  singular  reminder  he  was  of  General 
Throop.  Our  waiter,  colored,  took  for  granted 
that  he  was  the  chief  of  the  two ;  certainly  from 
no  assumption  upon  my  friend's  side.  It  is  a 
trifling  thing  to  mention,  but,  as  we  sat  down  to 
dinner,  he  glanced  inquiringly  at  me,  and,  as  I  was 
about  to  ask  what  he  wished,  he  bowed  his  head 
and  said  grace.  Up  to  that  moment  I  think  our 
waiter  had  regarded  him  as  a  person  of  distinction, 
a  millionaire  most  likely ;  not  so  certain  of  it 
after  that,  I  fear. 

My  having  been  over  the  same  ground  myself 
made  it  more  easy  and  interesting,  —  our  talk  of 


254  MOSE  EVANS. 

his  travels,  —  but  he  had  taken  Europe  more 
slowly  and  thoroughly  than  I ;  every  edifice,  pict- 
ure, opera,  king,  queen,  peasant  almost.  And  all 
along  he  had  asked  me  after  but  one  person  by 
name,  —  my  wife.  I  suppose  he  rested  upon  my 
assurance  at  the  outset  that  ''  all  are  well." 

I  hke  chess,  —  that  is  I  like  to  make  moves  in 
matters  generally,  so  I  ventured  to  ask,  as  we  con- 
versed, about  the  beauty  of  women  over  the  water ; 
in  Ital}^,  for  instance. 

"  I  had  letters  of  introduction  from  Bof^ton, 
partly  through  our  old  friend  the  postmaster, 
partly  from  acquaintance  made  while  studying," 
he  told  me,  "  to  people  in  London,  and  one  or  two 
in  Paris.  I  was  fortunate  in  making  friends.  I 
liked  the  ladies,  but  the  men  more ;  it  merely  hap- 
pened so,  I  suppose." 

"  You  do  not  ask  about  Miss  Throop,"  I  said, 
almost  irritated  ;  abruptly,  in  fact. 

"  No.  Because  I  know  already.  Perfectly," 
he  said  immediately,  with  the  face  of  a  child.  "  I 
always  knew.  At  least,  after  the  first  moment  in 
that  old  barn  of  a  church."  Was  this  —  insolence  ? 
I  have  to  do  some  singular  things  in  land  matters, 
—  so,  I  dared  it. 

"Have  you  heard  of   Mr.   Clammeigh's   mar- 


MOSE  EVANS.  255 

riage  ?  "  I  asked,  in  a  low,  sympathizing,  impres- 
sive manner,  very  seriously  indeed. 

"  No  !  And  he  is  married,  is  he  ?  But  you 
know  I  never  knew  much  of  him."  Entire  uncon- 
cern. I  looked  at  my  friend  with  pain  and  sur- 
prise in  every  lineament  of  my  face.  "  You  knew 
Mr.  Clammeigh  was  engaged  to  Miss  Throop.  I 
had  supposed  the  news  of  his  marriage  would  — 
would  "  —  and  how  keenly  I  watched  him  ! 

"  Ah,  yes  ! "  he  answered  on  the  instant,  the 
gladness  all  over  his  face  only  brightening  as  he 
spoke,  and  with  a  motion  of  his  right  hand  to  his 
inner  breast  pocket.  "  It  reminds  me,  I  want  to 
show  you,  ^[r.  Anderson  !  I  could  not  find  it  in 
Paris  ;  found  it,  at  last,  in  Vienna  ;  the  very  thing 
I  knew  must  be  somewhere.  Our  ring.  But  it  is 
going  through  the  custom-house." 

*'  And  you  think  I  deceive  you  !  "  I  hesitated 
at  the  familiarity,  but  went  on.  "  My  poor,  poor 
fellow  !  "  The  exclamation  jarred  us  both  a  little, 
and  Mr.  Evans  colored,  but  added,  not  the  shadow 
of  a  fleeting  doubt  on  his  face,  "  Oh,  excuse  me  !  I 
did  not  catch  your  meaning.  I  was  thinking  of 
that  ring.  You  did  it  very  well.  What  a  come- 
dian you  would  make.  But,  not  exactly  !  It  is 
with  me  about  that  as  it  is,  if  you  will  excuse  me, 


256  MOSE  EVANS. 

about  smuggling.  I  am  no  better  than  otber 
people,  but  it  is  so  thoroughly  against  one's  self  to 
try  to  cheat  and  lie  —  I  mean  with  those  officials. 
They  would  have  seen  it  in  my  eyes,  all  over  me  ! 
And  a  something  for  her.  I  would  as  soon  have 
dij^ped  the  diamond  in  mire." 

"  And  you  do  —  not  —  believe  —  that  —  Miss 
Throop  —  is  married  !  "  I  gazed  pityingly  upon 
my  friend  as  I  said  it.  If  there  had  been  but  a 
doubt,  merely  the  least  questioning  in  his  eyes 
whether  I  was  jesting  !  Not  a  bit  of  it !  Nothing 
but  sunny  and  entire  certainty  there  !  And  so  we 
left  the  question  ;  he  was  not  interested  in  it. 
"  You  seem  to  be  so  happy,"  I  said  in  a  turn  of 
our  conversation,  and  with  ominous  accent. 

"  Am  I  ?  I  never  thought  of  it.  It  is  my 
thorough  health,  I  suppose,"  he  rephed,  "  caused 
by  perpetual  change  of  scene  and  air.  I  think, 
too,  I  have  more  faith  and  the  repose  of  faith  than 
some  persons." 

"  Faith  ?  " 

"  I  hesitate  to  speak  of  it  even  to  you.  But, 
over  there,"  with  a  gesture  toward  the  Atlantic, 
"  they  are  chattering,  in  all  languages,  about  there 
being  nothing  at  last  but  law  and  force.  Now  I 
believe,"  he  added  with   the   candor  of   a   child, 


MOSE  EVANS.  257 

"  there  is  a  Person  to  match  this  universe.  He 
was  a  revelation  as  wholly  new  to  me  as  was  Miss 
Throop  ;  and  I  rest  in  her  as  I  do  in  Him." 

"  It  was  a  vast  change  for  you,  from  your  cabin 
to  —  the  whole  world  !  "  I  remarked,  I  remember, 
during  the  evening. 

"  Not  so  much  as  you  would  think,"  he  replied. 
"  Certainly,  not  so  very  great  a  change  as  I  had 
anticipated  ;  and  really  it  is  but  a  small  globe  at 
last,  is  it  not,  ^Ir.  Anderson  ?  You  can  sail  about 
it  in  three  months,  can  flash  your  telegram  around 
it  in  a  minute.  Smaller  than  I  thought.  Apart 
from  their  houses  and  clothing,  people,  too,  are 
very  much  alike  ;  don't  you  think  so  ?  " 

"  There  is  something  singular  in  the  matter  of 
inheritance,"  my  companion  remarked  after  a  turn 
in  the  conversation.  "  My  poor  father  was  a  very 
bookish  man,  I  was  told,  as  well  as  a  person  of 
great  refinement.  Now  I  do  believe  that  intuition 
is  merely  inherited  experience.  I  have  been  read- 
ing a  great  deal,  very  rapidly  because  every 
volume  seemed  oddly  familiar  from  the  first,  as  if 
I  had  certainly  read  it  before.  So  of  painting, 
music,  science,  even,  as  far,  at  least,  as  my  limited 
knowledge  of  them  extends.     It  is  as  if  it  all  was 


258  MOSE  EVANS. 

already  lying  dormant  in  me,  easily  wakened. 
Singular,  is  n't  it  ?  " 

And  so  we  drifted  this  way  and  that ;  talked 
Brownstown  thoroughly  over.  Hah,  —  I  think  of 
it  only  as  I  now  write,  —  the  Confederate  oflBcer 
of  my  imagination  did  want  land  at  last !  "  What 
I  fully  hope  she  will  consent  to,"  he  had  casually 
observed,  "  is  to  leave  Brown  County.  I  do  not 
care  to  live  there  because  I  think  she  will  prefer 
to  go  where  I  was  not  known  before.  I  have 
thought  of  the  northwest,  of  our  spending  our  new 
life  in  a  new  world.  What  do  you  think,  Mr. 
Anderson  ?  " 

There  is  nothing  m  luck,  nothing  outside  of 
experience  and  readiness  to  handle  whatever  mate- 
rial you  have.  I  am  sure  nothing  could  have  been 
more  natural  in  this  case.  I  represented  large 
bodies  of  land  in  California,  and  Mr.  Evans  owned 
land  like  a  Texan  JEmpressario,  in  Brown  County. 
Affairs  were  put  in  train  then  that  resulted  in 
exchanges  of  lands  with  which  we  are  not  dis- 
satisfied so  far.  All  this  has  slipped  from  me 
without  my  intending  it,  but  if  the  reader  imag- 
ines that  he  can  now  anticipate  all  that  is  to 
follow,  let  him  not  be  too  sure  ;  events  do  not 
befall  in  sober  narration  like  this  as  they  do  in 
fiction. 


MOSE  EVANS.  259 

"  You  know  what  a  long  infancy  I  had,"  my 
friend  said  in  connection  with  our  land  talk  that 
night.  "  And  I  have  been  reading,  seeing,  hear- 
ing, growing,  I  hope,  of  late.  Well,  I  am  young, 
strong,  eager  for  work.  I  will  find  what  I  can  do, 
so  that  it  is  work  and  plenty  of  it !  "  And  I  can 
say  this,  at  least,  that  Mr.  Evans  is  to-day  second 
to  no  man  in  our  land  company.  Frankly,  as  a 
*'  man  of  affairs  "  I  never  met  his  superior ;  and 
why  not  say  so  ? 

I  had  him  down  on  Wall  Street  next  day.     Our 
people  thought,  at  first,  he  was  an  English  cap- 
italist.    I  was  a  little  annoyed,  amused,  gratified, 
and  perplexed  at  it,  but  my  being  his  friend  was 
considered  as  a  sort  of  feather  in  my  cap.     Mose 
Evans !      As    I    used    to    know   him   in    Brown 
County  !     Miss  Throop's  influence,  of  course,  —  I 
heartil}^  assent  to  that,  knowing  her  so  well,  even 
though  failing  so  painfully  in  making  her  known 
to  the  reader.     Yet  I  ask  of  the  reader,  even  if  a 
lady,  could  anything  have  been  made  of  this  man 
if  it  was  not  in  him  from  the  first  ?     It  is  not  out 
of  a  cockle-burr  that  an  oak  grows ;  now  does  it  ? 
I    wish  somebody,  not    a  divine,  would    write  an 
argument,  as  I  have  said  before,  for  the  resurrec- 
tion, based  upon  a  man's  capacity  for  the  same, 
illustrated  by  facts,  on  this  side  death ! 


12 


260  MOSE  EVANS. 

We  had  some  singular  talk  together  that  night, 
which  I  TTOuld  like  to  detail,  but  I  feel  it  is  not 
proper.  My  friend  assumed  all  along  the  influence 
upon  himself,  modest  as  he  was  in  speaking  about 
it,  of  two  persons,  the  one  being  as  real  to  him  as 
the  other.  The  first  was  simply  a  man,  who,  he 
heartily  believed,  is  also  God.  The  other  was  a 
woman.  Say  he  mistook  actual  facts  as  to  the  one 
and  the  other,  —  if  I  do  not  add  that  they  were  liv- 
ing persons,  both,  to  him,  I  fail  of  the  truth.  Cer- 
tainly, real  or  unreal,  they  made  him  all  he  was  I 

I  suppose  it  is  sheer  force  of  association,  but  this 
reminds  me  —  I  am  glad  I  did  not  forget  it  —  of  a 
letter  my  friend  found  waiting  him  in  New  York. 
He  read  it  to  me  the  day  he  went  West,  a  week 
after  his  arrival  from  Europe,  compelled  sorely 
against  his  will  to  remain  as  long  as  that  arrang- 
ing exchange  of  land.  In  looking  over  it  then  I 
inadvertently,  from  force  of  habit  when  a  doc- 
ument was  in  my  hand,  put  it  into  my  breast 
pocket.  It  was  memoranda  rather  than  letter 
from  old  New  Hampshire,  the  Brown  County 
postmaster.  I  found  it  yesterday  among  my 
papers,  looking  for  a  deed.  I  transcribe  only  the 
last  part. 

"  You  will  have  heard  of  Mrs.  Throop's  death. 


MOSE  EVANS.  2G1 

Her  husband  always  sends  for  his  mail,  is  very 
feeble  and  broken.  Wife's  death,  I  suppose.  ISIiss 
Throop  in  deep  mourning  as  usual  at  church,  looks 
very  worn,  yet  helps  our  singing. 

"  Dick  Frazier  is  dead  of  drink,  which  reminds 
me  that  you  ask  after  ^Ir.  Archer.  I  infer  that 
Mr.  Anderson  when  here  had  serious  conversation 
with  him,  as  at  Bucksnort.  Also,  Mr.  Parkinson. 
From  the  fact  that  he  took  to  drink  more  desper- 
ately afterwards.  He  was  in  my  store  since  then, 
upon  New  Year's  Eve.  Bought  a  box  of  caps. 
'  Hunting  ?  '  I  asked.  He  never  uses  a  gun  except 
when  he  is  expecting  a  difficulty.  '  Would  you 
like  to  know  ?  '  he  asked.  His  manner  was  unlike 
what  I  ever  saw  before.  Pale.  Haggard.  Des- 
perate. I  told  him  I  would.  His  manner  of 
cursing  me  was  smgular.  There  was  no  one  else 
in  the  store,  it  was  so  very  late.  I  attempted  to 
reason  with  him.  He  renewed  his  profanity, 
including  his  Maker  and  his  parents  in  the  same. 
I  am  but  a  small  man,  quite  old  and  feeble  since 
we  parted.  I  placed  myself  between  Mr.  Archer 
and  the  door.  He  attempted  to  force  his  way  by. 
Struck  me  violently.  I  grappled  with  him.  He 
is  not  strong.  Had  the  door  locked  and  him  in 
my  back  room.     He  blasphemed  and  broke  down 


262  MOSE  EVANS. 

in  an  agony  of  weeping.  He  had  intended  to 
shoot  himself,  as  I  supposed.  Had  he  intimated 
it  I  knew  he  would  not.  I  am  satisfied  that  the 
residence  here  of  General  Throop  and  family  has 
had  much  influence  on  him.  I  will  not  detail  our 
conversation.  I  did  not  speak  of  his  father  or 
mother.  Nor  of  church.  I  spoke,  as  well  as  I 
could,  of  another  Person.  I  am  satisfied  that 
other  Person  was  in  the  room  and  helped  me. 
And  helped  him.  He  spent  the  night  with  me. 
AVe  have  had  much  conversation  since.  He  has 
ceased  from  evil  courses.  Seems  changed.  I  do 
not  know.  Has  never  even  pretended  to  stop 
before.  He  intends  to  study,  for  the  ministry.  I 
suggested  Andover.  He  said  the  grace  of  God 
might  enable  him  to  endure  the  Yankees  since  the 
war.  He  feared  not,  however.  Thought  it  safest 
not  to  risk  it !  He  studies  instead  at  Columbia. 
If  he  holds  fast  to  his  Helper  he  will  stand.  If  he 
does  not  he  vdll  not.  I  have  great  fears  as  to  the 
result,  but  cannot  tell.     Good-by." 

As  to  myself  I  had  not  sufficient  belief  in  the 
possibility  of  the  lawyer's  reformation  to  give  it  a 
second  thought,  and  hasten  to  record  my  parting 
with  Evans  at  the  office  of  the  hotel. 

"You  are  exposing  yourself,  my  friend,"  I  said 


MOSE  EVANS.  263 

with  all  sincerity  as  we  shook  hands,  "  to  a  ter- 
rible disappointment.  Your  very  certainty  of 
success  will  make  it  more  disastrous  !  " 

''I  will  take  the  risk,"  he  added  with  hearty 
assumnce  as  he  held  my  hand. 

Could  there  have  been,  I  asked  myself  as  I 
stood  there,  any  engagement  before  he  left  Brown 
County  ?  Could  anything  have  resulted  from  his 
correspondence  with  my  wife  while  away  ?  Noth- 
ing of  the  kind  so  far  as  I  knew,  nothing  what- 
ever !  I  was  seriously  offended  on  Miss  Throop's 
behalf.  "  Unless  she  has  pledged  herself,  do  you 
think  your  confidence  of  success  wholly  respectful 
to  Miss  Throop  ?  "  I  began. 

"You  could  not  doubt  my  deepest  respect  for 
her,  to  save  your  life,"  he  replied.  "  As  to  my 
confidence,  as  I  told  you  the  other  night,  it  rests 
in  her  as  it  does  in  my  Maker.  She  will  under- 
stand me,  perfectly  !  "  And,  with  another  cordial 
shake  of  the  hand  he  was  gone.  Upon  the  whole, 
I  would  have  said  nothing  of  all  this  to  him,  had 
I  known  he  was  such  a  —  what  is  the  word  ! 


XIX. 

Its  hue  and  fragrance  somehow  slips 

From  fruit  -nhen  it  has  reached  the  lips. 

Far  less  his  thought  in  marble  wrought 

Than  what  the  sculptor's  soul  had  sought. 

The  bride,  however  lovely,  seems 

Not  quite  the  bride  vou  clasped  in  dreams ! 

The  Indies  of  Columbus  were 

Not  his  great  Indies  in  the  air ! 

Their  glory  infinitely  more 

Than  after  he  had  leaped  ashore ! 

For  never  can  your  hand  contain 

That  which  you  hold  within  your  brain, 

And  less  your  soul  must  still  disdain ! 

Several  weeks,  I  do  not  know  how  many,  had 
passed  away  since  my  friend,  —  I  confess  I  hesi- 
tated to  speak  of  him  since  our  meeting  and  part- 
ing in  New  York,  even  to  my  wife,  as  Mose  Evans, 
—  had  gone  West.  No  letter  had  arrived  for  her 
from  Agnes  Throop.  You  who  are  reading  these 
lines  may  feel  \eYj  certain  as  to  the  result,  but 
Helen  and  myself,  knowing  the  parties  so  much 
better  than  yourseK,  were  not  certain  by  any 
means  ;  far  from  it !   And  if  you,  respected  reader, 


MOSE  EVANS.  265 

find  yourself  wholly  mistaken  in  the  result  in  ques* 
tion,  I  think  you  will  gracefully  acknowledge  it  ia 
not  for  the  first  time. 

I  remained  silent,  waiting  anxiously  the  solving 
of  this,  as  we  always  are  of  some  one  of  the  un- 
ceasing succession  of  conundrums  coming  up  before 
and  pressing  upon  us  for  solution,  our  life  through. 
We  were  too  deeply  anxious  to  say  much  to  each 
other  upon  the  subject,  Helen  keeping  up,  when- 
ever the  matter  was  alluded  to,  something  of  her 
disdainful  attitude.  We  all  know  that  a  woman 
holds  to  an  opinion  with  a  hundred  times  the  grip 
of  a  man,  unless  where  her  heart  is  concerned,  in 
which  case  she  is  far  more  eager  to  give  up  than 
she  was,  in  the  first  place,  to  grasp  ;  glad  that  she 
has  something  to  give  up.  Well  I  knew  from  her 
silence  all  along,  still  more  from  her  dissent  and 
criticism  after  I  had  told  her  of  my  meeting  with 
Evans  in  New  York,  that  she  believed  in  that 
gentleman  with  all  her  soul,  was  eager  as  a  child 
for  his  success.  She  had  asked  me  with  much  un- 
concern for  the  one  message  I  had  from  our  friend 
after  his  arrival  at  Brownstown,  — "  My  deai 
friend,"  it  ran,  "  I  have  arrived  safely.  I  have 
seen  her.  I  will  vn-ite,"  —  with  the  hope  of 
squeezing,  so  to  speak,  more  meaning  out  of  the 


266  MOSE  EVANS. 

message  as  by  very  pressure,   T  suppose,   of   re- 
peated perusal. 

Our  suspense  was  not,  however,  to  last  without 
end.  I  was  in  our  office  in  Charleston  one  after- 
noon, when  who  should  enter,  with  his  usual  eager 
step,  but  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parkinson. 

'*  I  am  East  to  solicit  help  toward  building  our 
new  church,"  he  said  immediately  after  asking  as 
to  the  health  of  my  family.  "  You  may  hate  to 
hear  it  as  heartily  as  I  do  to  mention  it.  But  I 
am  compelled  to  get  aid,  and  I  speak  of  it  at  once 
so  as  to  have  an  unpleasant  subject  stated  and 
done  with  !  " 

"  I  do  not  see  why  I  should  hate  it,"  I  said. 
"  But,  never  mind  about  that.  How  is  General 
Throop  ?  " 

"  Had  you  not  heard  ?  He  is  dead  !  He  died 
very  suddenly,"  my  friend  replied.  I  was  shocked, 
for  death  is  something  wholly  unnatural  to  us,  at 
last ;  we  had  every  reason  to  expect  it  in  this  case, 
yet  it  is  always  a  surprise.  In  the  eager  question- 
ing and  reply  which  followed,  I  learned  that  Gen- 
eral Throop  had  fallen,  struck  bv  death,  one  after- 
noon.  There  was  something  rumored  about  an 
altercation  on  the  part  of  the  General  with  Dr. 
Alexis  Jones,  who  had  mismanaged  the  case  of  a 


MOSE  EVANS.  267 

sick  negro  on  the  place,  as  bringing  about  his 
death.  "  The  family  were  very  reserved  upon 
the  subject,"  Mr.  Parkinson  said. 

"  The  family  ?  What  family  is  there  beyond 
Miss  Tliroop  ?  "     I  began. 

"  Considering  the  circumstances,  she  is  in  excel- 
lent health.  Do  you  know,"  he  said  Avith  some 
abruptness,  ''  that  I  am  married  ?  that  I  have  my 
bride  with  me  ?  "  and  he  turned  some  shades  paler 
as  he  said  it,  for  excitement  assumes  that  livery  in 
the  case  of  persons  of  his  temperament. 

"  Bride  !  "  I  am  certain  I  put  too  much  aston- 
ishment in  the  exclamation,  for  my  friend  grew 
paler  still.  "  Can  it  be  possible  "  —  and  I  h?.d  the 
sense  to  stop.  My  visitor  understood  me  none  the 
less.  "  It  is  not  Miss  Throop,"  he  said.  "  I  es- 
teem and  admire  Miss  Agnes  Throop  very  greatly, 
but,"  and  he  added  it  with  a  degree  of  self-respect 
which  wonderfully  became  him,  "  I  have  done  far 
better,  for  myself  I  mean,  —  yes,  and  for  her,  — 
than  that.  Surely  you  know  who  it  is  ?  Come, 
guess  !  "  with  eager  eyes.  I  knew  politeness  de- 
manded I  should  say,  and  on  the  spot,  "  Oh,  Miss 
Smith,  of  course,  and  a  charming  lady  she  is ;  let 
me  congratulate  you  I  "  but,  as  I  journeyed  on  the 
instant   over   the   length  and   breadth  of   Brown 


268  MOSE  EVANS. 

County,  in  swift  and  eager  searcli,  I  could  not  im- 
agine anybody. 

"  Is  it  possible  you  do  not  remember  Mary 
Robinson  ?  tliey  called  her  Molly  !  "  he  said. 

"  Why,  my  dear  sir,"  I  exclaimed,  "  you  can- 
not mean  little  Molly  Robinson,  that  rosy-cheeked 
dumpling  "  — 

"The  very  same,"  he  said  with  satisfaction. 

"  Indeed  !  I  used  to  kiss  her  when  I  stayed 
with  her  father  —  Judge,  General,  I  mean  Squire 
Robinson.  I  beg  your  pardon,  she  was  merely  a 
child  !  "  I  exclaimed. 

"  Not  sixteen  w'hen  we  were  married,  and  she 
is  a  child,  a  mere  child  still,  the  merest  child  in 
the  world !  "  and  it  was  extraordinary  the  glee 
with  which  the  young  husband  said  it,  rubbing  his 
hands. 

"  Yes,"  he  said  as  we  hurried  to  the  hotel. 
"We  had  just  risen  from  dinner  when  I  left  her. 
She  never  was  away  from  home  in  her  life  before. 
I  would  not  be  surprised  if  she  has  had  a  good  cry 
since  I  left,  she  is  the  merest  child,  you  know  I  I 
bought  and  left  with  her  all  the  picture  papers  I 
could  lay  hands  on  before  starting  I  " 

My  friend  would  not  allow  me  to  wait  in  the 
parlor,  but  hurried  me  up  with  him  to  their  room 


MOSE  EVANS.  2G9 

upon  the  highest  floor,  for  hotel  clerks  can  tell 
their  grade  of  guest,  city  or  rural,  on  sight,  and 
we  burst  in  upon  the  bride  to  find  her  in  a  situa- 
tion vastly  more  m  keeping  than  if  expecting  us 
in  parlor  and  in  state.  The  little  room  was  in 
utter  confusion,  clothing,  picture  papers,  plates  of 
fruit,  a  great  paper  of  candy,  too,  I  remember, 
strewed  about  on  table,  chair,  and  floor.  Perched 
upon  tlieu*  great  traveling  trunk  stood  INIrs.  Par- 
kinson, hucfijinG:  a  cat  to  her  bosom  from  the  as- 
saults  of  a  poodle  barking  furiously  below.  "  She 
ivould  have  that  dog,  I  got  it  for  her  as  we  came 
along,"  my  companion  had  explained  the  barking 
as  we  opened  the  door.  "  My  dear,  this  is  your 
old  friend,  Mr.  Anderson,"  he  said,  and  she  stooped 
down  to  be  kissed  as  of  yore  when  I  apj)roached. 
For  she  was  nothing  but  a  cliild,  plump,  her  hon- 
est, somewhat  freckled  face  round  and  full  as  a 
May  moon,  an  abundance  of  brown  hair  down  her 
back  in  the  confusion  of  the  moment,  small  and 
merry  eyes,  beautiful  teeth,  her  dress  a  little  short 
for  a  maiTied  woman,  but  that  may  have  been  ow- 
ing to  her  pedestal  —  you  can  see  scores  of  just 
such  girls  at  Sunday-schools  in  country  neighbor- 
hoods, without  exaggeration,  several  millions  of 
them,  in  fact,  plentiful  as  daisies  and  buttercups ! 


2T0  MOSE  EVANS. 

But  I  was  far  more  interested  in  lier  husband's 
beautiful  illusion  in  reference  to  her  than  in  her- 
self ;  you  can  witness  the  same  —  I  did  not  say 
(Musion  —  in  the  case  of  many  a  pale,  bookish 
man.  But  I  am  bound  to  say  that  Mr.  Parkinson 
was  vastly  improved  since  that  day  I  first  saw 
him  when  shaving  by  the  roadside.  He  was  in 
stouter  health,  sturdier,  manUer  in  every  sense. 

I  did  not  enjo}^  oui-  merry  greeting  and  after 
conversation  as  much  as  I  otherwise  would,  on 
account  of  conjecturing  how  Helen  would  like  the 
matter. 

My  wife,  I  knew,  understood  how  to  manage 
matters  far  better  than  myself.  Besides,  they 
woidd  have  to  get  ready  to  go  to  my  house.  Bid- 
ding them  good-by,  in  twenty  minutes  I  was  at 
my  ofl&ce  and  had  sent  our  messenger  boy  home' 
with  this  note :  "  Dear  Helen.  Mr.  Parkinson 
and  hride  are  at  our  old  hotel !  Have  them  to 
tea."  I  sat  in  my  office-chair  imagining  my  wife's 
bewilderment,  the  meeting  and  all,  laughing  as  I 
had  not  laughed  for  months. 

Somehow,  exert  myself  as  I  will,  Helen  always 
gets  the  better  of  me,  always !  When  I  entered 
our  sitting-room  I  found  the  newly  married  pair, 
apart    from    a    little    shyness    in    their    strange 


MOSE  EVANS.  271 

surroundings,  peacefully  at  home  with  Helen. 
Largely  on  account  of  my  wife  being  in  such 
excellent  spirits,  evidently  relieved  in  mind.  A 
moment's  reflection  explained  why,  and  I  won- 
dered I  had  not  thought  of  it  before.  As  I 
entered,  Mr.  Parkinson  said,  "  I  was  just  teUing 
Mrs.  Anderson  about  General  Throop's  funeral ! 
I  was  speaking  about  the  grief  of  the  negroes.  He 
had  never  o^vned  those  Brown  County  people,  you 
know,  yet  they  felt  he  was  their  natural  master ; 
on  both  sides  they  had  been  used  all  their  life  to 
the  relation  of  slave  and  master  as  to  nature  itself. 
No  monarch  more  feared  and  respected  than  that 
stately  old  gentleman  by  the  entire  county ;  it  was 
the  largest  funeral  ever  known. 

"  Mr.  Parkinson  tells  me  Agnes  bore  it  better 
than  he  could  have  hoped,"  Helen  began. 

"  Much  better !  "  our  guest  said,  paling  a  little 
I  imagined,  and  hastening  to  say,  "  I  did  not  like 
to  marry  so  soon  after  the  funeral.  I  suppose  I 
am  somewhat  impulsive,  but  we  had  made  all  our 
arrangements  to  be  married,  and  1  was  anxious  to 
be  abroad  in  search  of  funds  for  our  new  church. 
And  Molly  here  had  never  been  out  of  the  county. 
I  was  eager  to  show  her  the  world.  Harry  Peters 
was  greatly  missed  at  the  wedding,  for  he  would 


272  MOSE  EVANS. 

not  come,  sending  his  wife  instead.  They  ought 
to  build  the  church  themselves,  I  know,  but  I 
shrank  from  pressing  it,  as,  I  dare  say,  I  should. 
I  do  not  mean  to  urge  the  matter  upon  any  one. 
To  tell  the  truth,  I  hate  to  beg  ;  I  am  the  poorest 
person,  for  such  business,  Hving  !  " 

They  were  our  guests  for  some  weeks,  the  bride 
remaining  with  us  while  Mr.  Parkinson  journeyed 
around  upon  his  mission  in  other  places.  But 
Helen  gave  up,  as  well  as  myself,  obtaining  any 
final  information  in  reference  to  Agnes  Throop,  to 
whom  my  wife  had,  of  course,  written  in  condo- 
lence immediately,  urging  her  to  make  our  house 
her  home.  "  As  to  Mr.  Parkinson's  wife,"  Helen 
said  to  me  the  moment  we  were  alone  together, 
"  she  is  a  good,  simple  country  girl.  You  need 
not  have  looked  at  me  on  Sunday  when  I  spoke  of 
my  headache.  I  could  not  have  accompanied  her 
to  church  in  that  fearful  white  hat !  How  per- 
fectly ^Ir.  Parkinson  has  succeeded  in  deluding 
himself  !  "  For  the  young  husband  had  theorized 
his  heart  into  entire  sincerity  in  the  matter  ! 

"  Nothing  more  natural  than  that,"  Helen  ex- 
plained to  me.  "  He  is  a  person  of  highly  imag- 
inative temperament,  as  you  know.  His  failure  in 
reference  to  Agnes,  his  daily  association  with  Miss 


MOSE  EVANS.  573 

Molly  as  her  father's  guest,  too  —  nothing  more 
natural,  foolish  as  it  seems  !  " 

*'  She  is  so  young,  so  uninformed  in  regard  to 
everything !  "  he  said  to  Helen  and  myself  one 
confidential  evening  when  his  wife  was  out  of  the 
room.  "  She  is  like  the  whitest  and  softest  of 
wax  in  my  hands.  If  it  is  a  glorious  thing  to  be 
an  artist  and  to  carve  an  ideal  nymph,  or  queen  of 
wisdom  or  power  or  love,  how  much  nobler  to 
mold  a  living  soul,  to  form  and  inspire  an  im- 
mortal for  eternity  !  It  came  to  me,  —  I  boarded 
at  her  father's  joxx  know,  —  as  a  mere  fancy.  I 
was  sitting  on  their  front  porch  one  afternoon 
when  she  came  in  from  school,  —  her  hat  in  one 
hand,  her  books  in. the  other,  her  hair  down  upon 
her  shoulders,  —  all  glowing  from  her  walk.  I 
never  was  so  lonely  in  my  life,  so  desponding,  I 
fear.  As  she  came  in,  the  idea  flashed  upon  me, 
merely  as  a  beautiful  fancy  at  first,  you  observe. 
It  slowly  grew  to  be  a  glorious  reality  before  I 
knew  it !  I  do  believe  if  you  were  to  ask  ^lolly 
the  distance,  say,  to  the  moon,  she  would  reply,  I 
have  n't  the  least  idea !  I  intend  to  teach  her 
Latin  myself ;  I  have  bought  the  books  already. 
I  am  advertising  for  a  music  teacher,  some  lady  to 
play  upon  our  melodeon  at  church,  to  return  with 
us !  " 


274  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  You  have  talked  with  her  about  it  ?  "  asked 
my  wife  without  a  smile,  and  with  a  measure  of 
sympathy  of  manner  for  which  I  kissed  her  after- 
ward. 

"  Of  course  !  We  talked  of  nothing  else  before 
we  were  married.  Of  nothing  else,  I  assure  you," 
Mr.  Parkinson  said  eagerly.  "  Very  often  since  ! 
She  is  perfectly  willing  I  The  best-natured  little 
darhng  you  ever  saw  !  I  love  her  with  all  my 
heart,  for  what  I  am  to  make  her.  And  she  loves 
me  far  more  than  brides  generally  do,  having  some 
idea,  at  least,  of  all  I  will  be  to  her  !  " 

We  sincerely  liked  Mr.  Parkinson,  but  I  fear 
we  encouraged  him  to  open  his  whole  heart  in 
reference  to  Mrs.  Molly,  in  order  to  learn  the 
sooner  what  he  knew  in  regard  to  Agnes  Throop 
and  Mose  Evans. 

"  I  know  none  of  the  circumstances  of  Mr. 
Evans's  first  visit  to  General  Throop's  after  his 
arrival,"  Mr.  Parkinson  said  at  last  one  evening. 
"  There  was  much  confusion ;  all  my  conversation 
with  Miss  Throop  was,  of  course,  in  regard  to  her 
sudden  and  terrible  loss.  I  know  you  have  been 
anxious  to  have  me  say  more  about  her  and  Mr. 
Evans,  but  we  have  talked  since  I  came  so  much 
in  regard  to  my  plans  for  the  church,  and  specially 


MOSE  EVANS.  275 

about  Molly.  Besides,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  was  so 
taken  up  then,  as  I  have  said,  with  our  getting 
married  "  — 

"  You  have  seen  Evans  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Oh,  certainly.  He  and  Harry  Peters  had 
charge  of  the  funeral,  we  were  all  so  very  busy. 
He  seemed  to  me  to  be  much  improved  ! " 

I  think  our  cfuest  was  somewhat  ashamed  of 
saying  so  little  on  that  occasion,  for  it  must  have 
been  the  next  evening  at  tea,  he  gave  us  an  ac- 
count of  his  first  meeting  with  Evans. 

"  It  was  at  their  place,  a  day  or  two  after  the 
General's  death,"  he  said,  "  Miss  Agnes  was  in 
her  own  room.  I  was  seated  beside  the  body, 
which  had  been  prepared  for  burial.  I  was  look- 
ing at  the  face  of  the  dead,  and  thinking.  Did 
you  ever  notice  the  aspect,  Mrs.  Anderson,  of 
dignity  in  the  countenance  of  the  dead  ?  I  was 
never  so  struck  Avith  it  as  in  the  instance  of  Gen- 
eral Throop.  There  was  the  grave,  set,  imperial 
something  in  the  countenance  of  the  grand  old 
man,  as  of  a  monarch.  It  was  Mr.  Evans  re- 
marked all  this  to  me  as  he  seated  himself  by  my 
side  that  day.  I  recall  his  remarks  now,  but  I 
must  say  my  attention  was  diverted  at  the  mo- 
ment entirely  from  the  dead  to  Mr.  Evans  him- 


276  MOSE  EVANS. 

self !  I  confess  I  was  greatly  struck  by  the 
transformation  !  Knowing,  as  I  did  through  our 
old  postmaster,  that  he  had  long  been  a  hard 
student,  I  expected  great  change  in  him,  of  course. 
He  had  been  abroad,  too.  You  cannot  tell  how  I 
look  forward  to  that  some  day  with  Molly  I  I 
know,"  he  added,  with  changing  color,  "  that  you 
are  laughing  at  me  with  all  your  kindness.  But 
just  wait  and  see  !  " 

"We  men,  Mr.  Anderson,"  he  added,  "  of  slight 
build,  cannot  help  envying  stronger  men.  At 
least,  a  person  of  somewhat  feeble  physique  from 
under  exercise  and  over  study,  like  myself,  cannot 
but  admire  any  person  of  Mr.  Evans's  health  and 
vigor.  He  came  into  the  room  that  day  where  I 
sat  beside  the  dead,  in  such  a  glow,  I  had  almost 
said  glory,  of  full  hfe  and  energy,  not  at  all  bois- 
terous, saying  little,  very  quiet  —  there  is  such 
e^ddence  of  reserve  of  power  and  happiness  !  I 
wish  I  had  such  stamina,  constitution ;  heartily 
wish  it,  I  confess  !  " 

"  Do  you  know,  Mr.  Parkinson,"  my  wife  asked, 
"  if  they  are  to  be  married,  jVIiss  Throop  and  Mr. 
Evans  ?  "     We  had  to  find  out  some  time. 

Our  friend  dropped  his  eyes  to  his  plate  as  we 
sat  after  our  tea,  then  raised  them  to  my  wife's 


^fOSE  EVANS  211 

face  and  gravely  made  answer.  "  No,  madam,  I 
do  not.  Owing  in  part  to  the  hurry  of  funeral 
and  wedding  and  —  other  matters.  I  esteem  and 
honor  Miss  Throop,"  he  continued  after  some 
silence,  "  as  we  all  cannot  help  doing.  Her  pe- 
culiar trials  also  have  been  such.  She  is  so 
singularly  alone  in  the  world,  too.  I  have  spoken 
of  Mr.  Evans  coming  suddenly  upon  me.  It  was 
the  strong  contrast  in  him,  that  hour,  of  vigorous 
life  side  by  side  with  the  aged  and  the  dead !  The 
whole  place,  with  its  loss  and  sorrow  and  seclu- 
sion, even  before  death  arrived,  was  like  a  sepul- 
chre. Miss  Throop,  I  say  it  sincerely,  was  like 
the  angel  at  the  sepulchre,  full  of  life  herself,  but 
her  work  there  ended  with  the  death  of  her 
parents.  All  the  circumstances  help  Mr.  Evans, 
—  are  as  shadow  and  background  to  him,  so  to 
speak ! " 

"  And  you  think  Mr.  Evans  —  one  ca7i7iot  well 
call  him  Mose  Evans  now  —  improved  ?  "  my  wife 
asked,  as  she  drew  Molly  to  a  seat  beside  her  upon 
the  sofa ;  "  you  know  I  have  not  seen  him  since 
we  parted  at  that  roadside  hotel  after  his  sick- 
ness." 

"  I  knew  him  well  before  he  went,"  our  guest 
answered,  "  and  T  could  not  have  imagined  it  even 


278  MOSE  EVANS. 

of  him  !  He  is  as  modest,  I  may  say  as  simple,  in 
his  mode  of  thought  and  feeling  as  ever.  He  had 
little  to  say  except  in  reply  to  questions,  but  I  was 
impressed  with  the  force  because  of  the  freshness 
of  what  he  said.  I  had  asked  him  in  one  of  our 
few  interviews,  I  remember,  as  to  the  leading 
preachers  in  the  East  and  in  Europe.  '  It  seems 
absurd  for  a  person  like  myself,'  he  remarked,  '  to 
say  such  a  thing,  but  it  is  a  fact,  and  you  cannot 
imagine  how  it  has  comforted  and  assured  me, 
being  what  I  am.  What  I  mean  is  this.  I  at- 
tended service  in  a  different  place  every  Sabbath  I 
could  in  America  and  Europe,  and  I  found  that 
the  praise,  for  instance,  in  the  most  successful 
churches  of  whatever  sect,  was  as  that  of  children 
together,  simple  and  heartfelt.  Exactly  the  same 
with  the  preachers  who  su^ay  and  impel  the 
masses ;  in  every  case  it  was  as  a  strong  child,  if  I 
may  so  speak,  talking  in  simplest  words  to  the 
understanding  and  heart  of  children !  I  have 
thought,'  he  continued,  '  a  good  deal  about  the 
Greeks  lately.  What  purely  human  beings  they 
were,  lo^dug  art  and  beauty  and  strength,  so  given 
to  bathing,  feasting,  fighting,  sunshine,  the  open 
air,  loving  and  hating  and  thoroughly  enjoying 
themselves   like   beautiful   children.     When   soul 


MOSE  EVANS.  279 

and  body  are  at  one  again,  as  they  were  in  Eden, 
Greek  and  Christian  thoroughly  reconciled,  then 
conies  the  millennium.  And  the  millennium  has 
arrived  already  to  every  one  who,  at  the  cross, 
makes  unconditional  surrender  of  himself  and  be- 
comes as  a  little  child  !  I  felt,'  he  added,  '  that  it 
was  not  such  a  hopeless  thing  with  a  man  like 
myself,  at  last.  I  found  that  plain,  childlike  com- 
mon-sense held  the  money  of  the  world,  and  is 
rapidly  coming  to  hold  and  wield  all  political 
power.  Look  at  a  picture  or  statue,'  he  added ; 
'  listen  to  a  leading  scientist ;  it  is  the  same  !  '  " 

"  Ah,  Mr.  Parkinson,"  my  wife  said,  after  we 
had  left  the  tea-table  for  the  parlor,  drawing  Mrs. 
Parkinson  nearer  to  her  as  they  sat  on  the  sofa, 
"  that  was  merely  an  effort  of  Mr.  Evans  to  make 
the  world  into  his  own  image.  You  are,  like  my 
husband  here,  perfectly  infatuated  about  your  Mr. 
Evans,  with  his  external  improvement,  and  that 
lying  largely  in  his  better  clothing ;  abundant 
jewelry,  too,  I  have  not  the  least  doubt.  It  is  not 
so  with  us  women ;  we  have  intuition,  insight. 
That  is  my  comfort  in  regard  to  Agnes  Throop  : 
she  is  too  much  like  her  mother  to  be  deceived  by 
externals,  I  am  sure  "  — 

Mr.    Parkinson   was    regarding    Helen    as    she 


280  MOSE  EVANS. 

spoke  with  eagerness  so  peculiar  that  I  thought  it 
well  to  say,  "  I  do  not  think  it  respectful  in  you 
to  your  sex,  Helen,  to  speak  of  —  was  it  not  ?  — 
their  instinct !  " 

"  Insight,  Mrs.  Anderson  said,"  our  friend  cor- 
rected me,  "  but  it  is  instinct  with  Mose  Evans. 
It  would  be  more  respectful  to  him  to  speak  of  a 
planet  as  true  to  its  sun,  in  referring  to  his  con- 
nection with  Miss  Agnes.     It  is  nearer  the  truth 
to  say  his  devotion  to  her  is  as  that  of   a  noble 
animal  to  its  owner ;  the  idea,  even,  of  any  other 
woman  has  never  entered  his  mind  !  "     Tliere  was 
so  much  in  the  tones  with  which  ]Mr.  Parkinson 
said  it !     "  I  do  not  know  how  Miss  Throop  will 
like  one  thing,"  he  added  after  a  little.     "  Our 
friend  does  not  bemoan  the  Confederacy,  although 
he  abhors  the  injustice,  in  many  respects,  of  the 
North ;  and  suffers  with  the .  South  in  its  defeat. 
All  this  wretched  devastation  of  greed  and  igno- 
rance, Xorth  and  South,  he  told  some  of  us  one  day 
at  the  post-office,  is  but  a  transition  period  to  such 
a  oneness  of  prosperity  and  nobler  freedom  and 
civilization  as  none  of  us  can  yet  understand.     He 
is  a  child,  too,  in  his  perfect  faith  in  our  future ! " 

"  Just  like  your  Molly,"  my  wife  said,   ''  for  I 
am  tired  of  Mr.  Evans.     I  am  so  glad  you  brought 


MOSE  EVANS  281 

her  with  you,  Mr.  Parkinson.  She  has  been  every- 
where over  Charleston  with  nie,  and  I  have  given 
her  ever  so  much  matronly  advice.  I  think  you 
and  she  have  done  wisely,"  my  wife  added,  with 
a  degree  of  conviction  at  which  I  winced  a  little. 
*'  I  am  sure  she  will  make  you,"  Helen  added  with 
singular  warmth,  "  a' wife  true  and  good  !  " 

"  I  see  that  she  is  asleep,"  Mr.  Parkinson  said, 
looking  lovingly  upon  his  bride.  With  her  head 
resting  upon  my  wife's  shoulder,  the  poor  little  girl 
was  sound  asleep,  sure  enough.  It  may  have  been 
the  alterations  made  by  my  wife  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  child's  hair,  the  style  and  color  of  her 
dress,  possibly  the  exchange  of  her  set  of  jewelry 
for  a  much  more  costly  but  modest  set,  —  Helen 
retaining  the  bride's  as  a  keepsake  in  exchange, 
she  said,  —  but  she  was  improved,  no  denying 
that.  Her  perfect  childishness,  too,  as  to  being 
married  so  soon  and  to  such  a  man,  one  could  not 
but  take  an  interest  in  this  brace  of  babes  in  the 
wood.  She  would  outgrow  her  form  of  childhood  ; 
her  husband  would  never  get  beyond  his  !  As  you 
would  have  acknowledged  had  you  heard  him  then 
and  there.  He  hoped  to  make  a  sort  of  evangelical 
Paris  of  Brownstown,  whose  lady  of  leading  cul- 
ture and  Christian  influence  was  to  be  the  round 


282  MOSE  EVANS 

and  wholly  unconscious  Molly  sleeping  so  sweetly, 
ber  careless  head  upon  Helen's  shoulder  ! 

I  ventured  to  ask  him  in  regard  to  Odd  Archer. 
Sure  enough,  as  New  Hampshire  had  informed  Mr. 
Evans  in  his  letter,  the  lawyer  seemed,  at  least, 
to  have  reformed.  "  He  has  made  some  of  the 
most  eloquent  temperance  addresses  ever  heard," 
Mr.  Parkinson  told  us.  "  After  some  hesitation, 
we  have  even  called  upon  him  to  lead  in  our 
prayer-meetings.  Impossible  for  a  man  to  speak 
more  earnestly  and  effectively  !  He  has  given  me 
new  ideas  as  to  the  best  way  of  preaching,  alto- 
gether, I  assure  you !     But  "  — 

"Yes,  but,"  I  echoed —  "  5w^ .' "  and  Helen, 
too,  shook  her  head  in  concert  with  us. 

"  He  is  stud^dng  for  the  ministry  at  Columbia." 
Mr.  Parkinson  added.  "  So  far  he  has  stood  iBrm. 
I  have  a  good  deal  of  hope,  but,  I  am  ashamed  to 
say,  very  little  faith.  '  I  would  a  little  rather  he 
was  safely  dead,'  Harry  Peters  said." 

However,  up  to  the  date  of  this  writing,  so  far 
as  I  know,  INIr.  Archer  stands  like  rock,  and  we 
can  at  least  leave  him  in  the  existing  halo  of  hope. 
But  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I,  for  one,  do 
wish  we  had  a  more  honest  faith  in  Him  whose 
life  and  death  and  life  again  in  this  world  it  is  to 


MOSE  EVANS.  283 

save,  a  loyal  and  entire  faith  that  lie  can  and  does 
siive  any  and  every  man  who  puts  himself  in  his 
liands,  body  and  soul,  for  time  and  eternity,  from 
everything  and  thoroughly  !  Possibly  if  we  im- 
maculate people  had  such  belief  in  Him  for  the 
desperately  hopeless  cases,  such  sinners  might  have 
tlie  same,  as  being  the  current  religion,  for  them- 
selves ! 

This  is  all  incidentaL  It  made  but  an  eddy  in 
our  talk,  which  lasted  till  very  late  that  evening. 
We  dropped  the  lawyer  out  of  our  conversation, 
but  not  more  utterly  than  ^Ir.  Parkinson  did  Miss 
Throop.  She  e\'idently  was,  like  Madame  Roland, 
the  beautiful  heroine  of  an  extinct  era  !  —  so  far, 
at  least,  as  he  was  concerned. 

And  so  our  guests  came  and  departed.  It  is  an 
easy  matter  to  imagine  our  deep  anxiety  in  refer- 
ence thereafter  to  our  friends  West ;  so  anxious 
were  we,  in  fact,  that  we  ceased  almost  altogether 
from  conversation,  Helen  and  myself,  upon  the 
subject.  She  relieved  her  mind  by  writing  every 
day  or  two  to  Agnes  —  like  her  sex.  I  presume  I 
w^as  true,  likewise,  to  mine,  in  leaving  Evans  to 
write  or  not  exactly  as  ho  saw  fit ;  and  in  plung- 
ing myself  all  the  deeper  into  my  own  matters, 
especially  as  real  estate  was  beginning  to  look  up 
again. 

13 


XX. 

"  I  smite  so  hard,"  the  heavy  hammer  said, 
"  Because  your  grain  is  iron  and  not  lead!  " 
"  Ye  strain  my  wheels,  among  them  fiercely  rolled," 

The  engine  groaned,  "  because  your  bars  are  gold !  " 
"  Thou  art  a  god."  you  cry,  "  so  strong  and  stern !  " 
"  I  am,"  he  says,  "  because  with  SAveat  I  earn 

In  you,  like  statue  wrought  from  hardest  stone, 
•  My  image,  through  all  ages  to  be  known 

My  masterpiece,  my  xery  son,  mine  own !  " 

I  HAVE  run  many  risks  in  my  diversified  life. 
Sometimes  it  was  on  water.  At  times  it  was,  and 
in  more  senses  than  one,  by  reason  of  the  pecul- 
iarity of  my  business,  and  very  literally,  on  land ; 
to  say  nothing  of  peril  to  life  itself  during  my 
toils,  compulsory,  in  the  service  of  the  late  la- 
mented Confederacy.  But  I  do  say  that  I  never 
undertook  adventure  quite  so  hazardous  as  I  now 
do,  in  my  mode  of  closing  this  narrative.  The 
truth  is,  I  should  not  have  undertaken  it,  not  hav- 
ing,  to  say  the  least,  the  necessary  time  from  other 
and  pressing  and  very  different  engagements.     I 


MOSE  EVANS.  285 

had,  even,  contemplated  abandoning  the  task  alto- 
gether ;  possibly  would  have  done  so  although  at 
this  eleventh  hour,  for  the  present,  at  least,  had 
not  the  recent  letters  to  my  wife  from  General 
Throop's  daughter  occurred  to  me.  From  sheer 
habit  which  I  have  taught  Helen  as  to  documents, 
these  letters  have  been  carefully  filed  away,  and 
they  lie  before  me  now,  beautifully  written,  but 
crossed  and  recrossed  as  is  the  habit  of  the  sex. 
They  can  but  slay  me  —  I  refer  to  Helen,  who  is 
on  a  brief  visit  to  her  relatives  to  exhibit  our  latest 
baby,  and  Agnes  —  when  they  find  it  out;  but, 
I  have  read  it  somewhere,  and  say  it  here  to  soften 
their  coming  wrath,  Happy  even  death  inflicted  by 
hands  so  fair!  Moreover  I  will  carefully  omit, 
from  the  copying  of  the  letters,  all  I  can  of  the 
correspondence,  for  my  sake  as  well  as  theirs  I 

I  should  explain  that  matters  may  appear  a 
little  confused  at  the  outset  of  what  is  here  copied. 
It  is  always  confusion  where  the  heart  precedes 
the  intellect,  which  is  why  woman  is  so  much  bet- 
ter adapted  to  heaven  and  to  home  than  to  any- 
thing else. 

"  I  am,  this  most  beautiful  morning,  Helen  dear, 
the  happiest  woman  living,"  this  first  letter  runs. 
"  I  am  to-day  as  radiant  as  an  angel  in  heaven,  so 


286  MOSE  EVANS. 

far  as  happiness  goes.  I  say  this  to  explain  why 
I  write  so  freely,  and  we  who  have  known  each 
other  all  our  lives,  have  sympathized  in  our  ten-i- 
ble  sorrows,  certainly  can  feel  with  each  other  in 
our  joys !  Who  would  have  supposed  the  languid 
brunette  you  are,  Helen,  would  have  made  so 
spirited  a  woman.  It  was  your  marr^^ing  a  New 
Englander.  What  noble  children  yours  are  !  They 
are  already  urging  him  to  run  for  Congress,  and 
when  he  is  elected  I  will  get  him  to  have  a  law 
passed  that  all  marriages  shall  be  illegal  except 
between  Northerners  and  Southerners ;  will  speak 
to  him  about  it  this  very  afternoon  as  we  ride  to 
the  post-office  !  I  cannot  help  it !  It  is  change 
of  chmate,  I  suppose,  change  only  less  than  from 
earth  to  heaven  in  every  respect.  The  day,  too, 
is  so  brilliant,  the  very  birds  twitter  and  wheel 
about  in  the  cloudless  hght  as  if  they  were  beside 
themselves  ;  I  must  write,  too,  as  I  please  !  And 
before  I  forget  it,  do  invite  Mr.  Archer  to  visit 
you  in  Charleston.  In  his  worst  days  he  was  al- 
ways of  good  blood  ;  he  will  make  one  of  our 
most  eloquent  divines !  I  do  believe  it  was  be- 
cause our  dear,  disagreeable  old  postmaster  felt 
assured  of  this,  at  last,  that  he  consented  to  die  in 
his  attack  of  pneumonia ;  what  a  grim  yet  sincere 


MOSE  EVANS.  287 

Christian  he  was !  I  wonder  if  he  allows  himself 
to  show  any  outer  interest  in  what  he  sees  and 
hears  there  I  In  heaven,  I  mean.  But  he  must, 
I  know,  for  we  will  all  be  transparent  to  each 
other  there,  translucent  to  the  light  which  falls 
upon  us  from  God  ;  just  as  I  am  this  radiant  day ! 
You  know  he  left  enough  to  the  church  to  build  a 
handsome  edifice  and  parsonage.  There  are  some 
things  I  could  tell  you,  Helen,  about  that  excellent 
^Ir.  Parkinson  !  I  am  so  glad  he  has  found  such 
a  nice  little  wife  and  that  he  has  settled  comforta- 
bly down ;  he  has  certainly  done  a  world  of  good 
there.  Was  it  not  strange,  the  legacy  of  the  dear 
old  New  Hampshire  to  me^  when  he  hardly  seemed 
to  know  of  my  existence !  Yet  we  did  endure 
actual  poverty,  Helen,  and  for  years.  One  can 
neither  eat  nor  wear  land,  you  know.  That  was 
merely  a  portion,  the  smallest  fraction  of  the  long, 
long,  long  suffering,  even  from  the  beginning  of 
the  war.  I  suppose  my  gladness  is  reaction  after 
so  much,  so  very  much  pain,  Helen  !  I  do  not 
want  to  tire  you,  but  let  me  write,  please,  if  it  is 
only  to  calm  myself.  I  can  write  from  this  dis- 
tance, although  I  know  I  could  not  talk  with  you, 
were  we  together,  with  the  same  freedom. 

"  It  was  terrible  as  death,  our  loss  of  Theodore, 


288  MOSE  EVANS 

then  our  breaking  up  from  Charleston  and  moving 
West,  the  ending  of  the  world  to  us !  Death  itself 
closes  all,  and  this  was  the  having  to  live  on  for 
3' ears,  alive  yet  in  the  utter  wreck  and  dust  of  the 
grave  !  First,  there  was  that  gloomy  old  home 
of  ours  below  Brownstown,  old,  at  least,  in  the 
bearded  and  decaying  live-oaks  and  the  loneliness  ! 
The  muddy  river,  the  cypress  swamp  behind  us, 
the  dense  forest,  the  very  magnolias  with  their 
oppressive  perfume,  the  heavy  fog  covering  the 
world  almost  every  morning  like  a  shroud  !  We 
lived  in  miasma,  in  contrast  with  which  this  pure 
mountain  air  is  like  that  of  Paradise.  Then  we 
had  so  much  trouble  with  the  freedmen,  at  least 
until  he  took  charge.  Except  when  Mr.  Anderson 
and  yourself  visited  us,  there  was  not  a  soul  with 
whom  we  could  associate,  Mr.  Parkinson  excepted, 

—  I  mean  with  sympathy  and  pleasure,  —  and  day 
after  day  for  so  very  long.  Next,  and  all  the  time, 
there  was  —  you  knew  of  it,  Helen  —  my  great  — 
trouble !  I  was  so  young  and  ignorant  when  it  be- 
gan r  If  I  had  a  story  to  tell  your  little  Henry,  dear, 
I  would  take  him  on  my  lap  and  do  it  in  this  way  : 
Once  on  a  time  there  was  a  certain  young  woman, 

—  not  a  man  as  the  books  have  it,  —  who  carved 
out  of  pure,  cold,  beautiful  white  marble  the  statue 


^fOSE  EVANS.  289 

of  a  god.  Her  name  was  Pygmalia,  not  Pygma- 
lion at  all.  She  was  very  young,  and  very  foolish, 
and  very  skillful  with  her  chisel  because  she  wanted 
a  god  to  worship,  and  worked  with  all  her  ardent 
heart.  It  was  a  shame,  but  her  statue  seemed  so 
beautiful  that  she  loved  it  as  if  it  was  a  living  god. 
She  found  out  afterward  that  the  great  God  him- 
self can  and  does  make,  and  alone  makes  in  his 
own  time  and  way,  the  only  objects  that  are  really 
worthy  of  our  love.  But  that  was  afterward,  I 
say.  I  will  add  nothing  about  the  incense,  the 
tears  and  prayers,  nor  of  what  sort  was  the  sacri- 
fice she  consumed  before  it.  But,  in  this  case,  the 
statue  never  came  to  life,  is  merely  marble  still  and 
forever.  That  is  all !  It  was  not  the  fault  of  the 
statue ! 

"  And  I  will  tell  you  here,  Helen,  a  thing  you 
never  knew  before.  It  happened  when  he  and  I 
were  East  —  we  were  so  sorry  we  could  not  run 
down  to  see  you,  dear,  that  trip  !  We  were  stay- 
ing at  a  hotel  in  New  York,  we  were  in  the  parlor, 
just  going  out.  Suddenly  thet/  came  into  the  room, 
Mr.  Clammeigh  and  his  wife.  Some  power,  with 
far-reaching  hands,  brought  us  all  together  in  that 
way  !  The  two  men  stood  for  the  moment  side  by 
side,  by  His  placing !     It  is  not  what  I  thought 


290  MOSE  EVANS. 

of  the  unspeakable  contrast.  It  was  not  what  she, 
poor  thing,  thought  of  it,  for  she  is  also  a  woman, 
and  they  did  not  even  pretend  to  marry  from  love. 
I  would  have  cheerfully  taken  what  the  little  bell- 
boy, handing  them  the  key  of  their  room  at  the 
moment,  thought  of  the  two  men  in  contrast ! 
Ague  in  comparison  with  health  ;  yes,  ague,  pallid, 
feeble,  shrinking,  beside  noblest  manhood  in  su- 
preme vigor  of  body  and  soul  I  He  could  no  more 
help  himself,  Helen,  than  the  coal  on  your  hearth 
can  keep  from  growing  ashen  when  the  strong  smi 
shines  full  upon  it !  And  I  could  not  but  be  aware, 
too,  of  my  husband's  eyes,  on  her,  on  me  ! 

"  As  it  is  only  for  your  reading,  Helen,  I  might 
tell  you  how  people  looked  at  us  in  the  cars,  in 
hotel  parlors  and  dining  room !  It  was  at  him, 
Helen,  my  man  of  men  !  Who  could  believe  that 
even  the  Creator  could  work,  at  least  m  this  world, 
such  change  in  a  human  being,  and  that  person 
remain  the  same!  And  change,  through  awful 
suffering,  in  me,  Helen.  My  only  beauty,  the 
overflowing  of  my  great  gladness ;  if  there  was 
but  more  of  my  father  in  me  to  weigh  down  the 
mother  I  inherit ! 

"  My  mother  !  That  was  the  next  in  our  terri- 
ble chancres.     Before  we  left  Charleston  she  had 


MOSE  EVANS.  291 

abandoned  almost  everything  to  me,  but  she  was 
never  out  of  her  mind,  dear,  if  you  ever  feared  so. 
It  was  years  of  intense,  unintermitting  affliction 
wearing  upon  a  nature  too  sensitive  at  the  begin- 
ning.  You  know  the  sainted  dead  are  utterly 
withdrawn  from  earth,  and  us,  although  they  love 
us  still.  Really,  my  mother  died  with  Theodore  ! 
They  neither  read  the  Scriptures  nor  pray  in 
heaven  ;  she  had  heaven,  if  I  may  speak  about 
such  a  matter,  so  steadily  before  her  that  she  im- 
agined herself  done  with  all  the  means  of  approach 
thereto.  Her  death  was  a  shock,  and  yet  nothing 
could  have  seemed  more  natural,  even  beautiful, 
when  we  found  her  that  morning  not  awakened 
out  of  her  sleep,  nor  to  awaken  until  another  voice 
than  ours  shall  break  her  slumber.  I  cannot  speak 
of  what  followed  upon  that ! 

"  Our  home  seemed  afterward,  as  you  may  sup- 
pose, yet  more  like  a  cemetery,  the  great  oaks  clos- 
ing nearer  in  upon  us  still  with  their  drooping 
boughs  and  long  gray  moss.  Oh,  the  sense  of 
separation  ;  the  loneliness  ;  the  slow-footed  hours  ; 
the  sleepless  nights  ;  with  the  winds  sighing  among 
the  trees,  often  the  weeping  clouds ;  the  round  of 
weary  household  affairs,  day  after  day,  and  for 
what  ?     I  look  back  with  amazement  that  I  could 


292  MOSE  EVANS. 

have  endured  it  all  and  live.  Yet  I  did  endure  it. 
Along  with  unspeakable  despair  there  was  unceas- 
ing hope,  actual  gladness.  When  I  had  time  I 
sang  at  my  instrument,  sang,  sang  !  I  was  in  such 
continual  practice  that  I  was  not  conscious  half  the 
time  of  the  keys  as  I  sang,  especially  with  earliest 
waking,  and  every  evening  before  the  lamps  were 
ht ;  and  very  often  they  were  not  lit  except  for 
prayers  and  to  go  to  bed.  There  was  I  far  from 
all  the  world,  no  one  left  me  but  Aunty  Washing- 
ton our  one  slave,  —  surely  Heaven  allowed  her  to 
fall  into  that  delusion  in  kindness  to  us,  —  and  my 
father  !     I  cannot  write  any  more  to-day. 

"  I  ceased  writinsj  vesterdav,  Helen,  and  for 
more  reasons  than  because  the  weary  days  in 
my  '  moated  grange  '  had  come  back  to  my  mind 
so  vividly  !  To-day  I  have  sat  for  hours  by  my 
open  desk  at  the  window,  trying  to  think  when  it 
all  began  ;  I  mean  about  him  !  I  have  often  tried, 
but  I  cannot  remember.  I  recall,  of  course,  a  day 
at  the  old  church,  the  first  day  I  was  there,  when 
I  saw  him  as  I  did  the  rest,  merely  a  good-looking 
country  youth.  When  they  told  me,  laughingly, 
the  effect  I  had  on  him,  it  amused  rather  than 
pleased  me.  Afterward  the  mention  of  the  matter 
wearied  me,  I  was  tired  of  the  nonsense  !     Then, 


MOSE  EVANS.  293 

when  you,  Helen,  and  your  husband  spoke  of  it,  I 
was  deeply  offended  ;  you  regarded  me,  I  thought, 
as  fallen  mdeed  from  former  days ! 

"  After  that,  without  his  seeking,  he  was  much 
upon  the  place  ;  came,  in  fact,  and  by  a  process  as 
certain  as  summer,  to  have  sole  charge  of  our  plan- 
tation, my  father  had  become  so  feeble.  Neither 
my  mother  nor  my  father  ever  dreamed,  as  you  may 
well  imagine,  of  such  a  thing  ;  they  fully  believed 
—  but  I  cannot  speak  of  that  !  Should  anything 
happen  to  them  they  relied  entirely  on  that !  I 
knew  the  deep  and  silent  affection,  devotion, 
rather,  of  the  man,  but  not  in  any  way  from  him. 
Had  he  said  anything,  done  anything,  I  would 
have  ended  the  matter  instantly.  I  wonder  if  he 
knew  it,  or  was  it,  as  it  was,  the  instinctive  noble- 
ness of  his  nature  !  If  he  had  been  a  coward  as 
well  as  a  country  youth,  had  been  sentimental, 
maudlin,  pining,  I  would  have  laughed  at  and  de- 
spised him ;  but  with  all  his  simple  manhood  he 
was,  Helen,  so  calm,  so  strong,  had  mastery  of 
himself  as  well  as  our  freed-people,  so  quiet  yet 
complete  !  When  it  was  urged  upon  him  by  my 
father,  he  took  charge  of  the  place  only  after  my 
father  had  made  him  full  and  distinct  promise 
that  the  plantation  should  be  absolutely  under  his 


294  MOSE  EVANS. 

control.  He  held  and  managed  it  with  a  hand  so 
gentle  and  yet  so  strong,  that  no  one  ever  thought 
even  of  raakinsj  a  su^i^jxestion.  I  knew  that  he 
loved  me  with  all  his  soul,  yet  I  knew  he  would 
not  allow  even  me  to  interfere.  I  grew  to  respect 
him,  Helen,  as  one  does  nature,  so  serene  yet  sov- 
ereign !  And  I  had  despised  him  because  he  was 
inferior — God  help  me  I  —  to  my  marble  god, 
marble  so  symmetrical,  polished,  beautiful ! 

"  I  had  a  last  letter  from  him  one  day,  Helen, 
and  it  happened  it  was  this  other  that  brought  it 
from  the  office  and  handed  it  to  me.  I  was  at  the 
front  gate  waitmg,  and  with  certainty,  for  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Clammeigh,  when  he  arrived  with  it 
from  town.  Part  of  the  marble  of  the  writer  was 
that  he  had  never  prepared  me  for  what  was  to 
come,  or  in  the  bUnd  excess  of  my  devotion  I  did 
not  see  it.  The  letter  struck  me  like  a  dagger.  I 
never  yielded  before,  nor  after  ;  but  it  was  follow- 
mg  upon  so  long  a  strain,  I  was  so  entirely  alone 
in  the  world,  it  was  so  sudden  !  I  believe  I  fell. 
I  was  told  he  took  me  in  his  arms  like  a  babe,  his 
beard  over  my  breast  as  he  bore  me  into  the 
house.  Not  the  '  great  house  ; '  he  had  the  singu- 
lar thoughtfulness  for  my  poor  father,  to  carry  me 
around   it   and   into    Aunty  Washington's   cabin. 


MOSE  EVANS.  295 

Beside  lier  and  himself  no  soul  has  known  of  that 
until  now ;  I  could  not  tell  even  you,  Helen,  when 
you  were  with  us. 

"  It  chanced  that  the  crop  was  all  in.  That 
very  day  he  arranged  with  my  father,  as  you 
know,  that  Harry  Peters,  our  next  neighbor, 
should  manage  our  plantation  as  well  as  his  own, 
which  he  had  leased  to  him.  It  was  the  afternoon 
of  the  day  following.  I  would  not  have  spoken  to 
my  mother,  had  she  been  alive.  I  had  gone  to  my 
piano,  partly  from  force  of  habit,  largely  in  very 
desperation.  It  was  all  over  in  an  instant.  He 
merely  stood  beside  me  and  said,  '  Miss  Agnes  !  I 
have  come  to  bid  you  good-by.' 

"  I  did  not  cease  playing,  but  looked  up.  .  He 
stood  there  with  the  innocent  and  steady  eyes  of  a 
child  in  mine. 

"  '  I  am  learning,  you  know,'  he  said  quietly. 
'  I  wanted  to  say  that  I  know  what  I  am  as  well 
as  you.  I  want  to  say  this,  too  :  I  love  you,  —  I 
must  love  you  forever,  even  if  I  am  only  what  J 
am.' 

"  That  was  all.  I  did  not  cease  pla}^ng  for  a 
moment ;  it  must  have  been  the  last  sounds  he 
heard  as  he  rode  away.  I  was  too  stunned,  then, 
to  be  capable  of  feeling  ;  stunned  by  other  things ; 


296  MOSE  EVANS. 

and  I  want  to  say  this,  and  just  here  :  I  know 
nothing  more  of  it  all,  Helen,  than  I  do  how  the 
little  seed  begins  to  grow  deep  down  in  the  earth. 
It  was  there  long  before  I  knew  it,  had  life  and 
gi'owth  and  color  before  I  was  conscious  it  existed ! 
I  had  your  letters.  I  had  his  absence  !  I  love, 
Helen  dear,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  !  Before, 
it  was  half  uneasy  apprehension ;  now,  I  give  my 
whole  heart  with  certainty  of  my  perfect  safety  in 
loving,  I  '  rest  in  my  love,'  in  the  delicious  words 
of  old.  But  I  hear  the  sound  of  hoofs,  on  the 
gallop,  Helen  !  He  is  coming,  and  I  prefer  him  to 
you,  dear,  a  million  times  over  !  Good-by  !  " 
So  much  for  these  two  letters  ! 


XXI. 

The  eagle's  daring  wing  at  last  would  flag, 
•        Did  it  not  reach  and  rest  upon  its  crag  ? 

Broad  day  would  slay,  did  not  its  dying  light 
Lapse  like  a  wave  upon  the  shore  of  night. 
And  always  peace,  until  the  world  shall  cease, 
Shall  end  in  war,  as  war  shall  swoon  in  peace. 
No  calm  hut  into  storm  doth  rouse  at  last, 
As  storm  doth  sob  into  a  calm  its  blast. 
The  soul,  too,  has  its  landing  places,  where 
To  halt  and  rest  on  its  ascending  stair. 
CUmb,  soul,  to  heaven -thy  final  rest  is  there! 

u  It   seemed  to   me   after   Mr.  Anderson  and 
yourself  had  left  us,"  this  next  letter  runs,  -  as  if 
not  so  much  weary  weeks,  months,  years,  but  cen- 
turies rather,  were   rolling   over   my  head.     Our 
solemn  home  was  like  a  great  clock  whose  pen- 
dulum had   ceased   to   swing.      Time   itself  had 
stopped  !    The  last  relative  left  on  earth  to  occupy 
my  heart  or  my  hand  was  my  father.     My  great 
recnret  was  that  he  left  me  so  little  to  do  for  him. 
My  mother's  death  had  whitened  him,  so  to  speak, 
as  with  a  sudden  winter.     Although  more  excit- 


298  MOSE  EVANS. 

able,  he  grew  more  still  and  silent  as  he  became 
more  feeble.  I  will  always  have  the  sincerest 
regard  for  our  overseer,  ]\Ir.  Harry  Peters,  and  his 
excellent  little  wife ;  they  had  given  up  their  own 
home  near  by  to  live  with  us  these  days,  and  Mr. 
Peters  overflowed  as  steadily  as  a  mountain  spring 
with  his  humor.  It  was  only  at  times  he. could 
interest  my  father,  at  my  request,  in  the  affairs  of 
our  plantation,  for  he  had  long  since  turned  over 
the  freedmen  to  themselves  and  to  Mr.  Peters  lq 
disgust.  For  months  before  his  death  I  never 
knew  him  to  open  a  paper.  Ever  since  I  can 
remember  he  had  read  the  "  Charleston  Mercury," 
and  the  extinction  of  that  journal  was  to  him  the 
going  out  of  the  last  orb  of  light  in  a  sky  of  other- 
wise utter  darkness  !  I  so  dreaded  the  stagnation 
of  mind  into  which  he  might  fall  that  I  got  J\Ir. 
Peters  to  tell  him  of  evenings,  as  we  sat  together 
upon  our  front  porch,  the  last  items  of  political 
news.  My  dear  father  would  sit  and  smoke,  his 
beard  grown  so  long  and  white,  as  Mr.  Peters 
read,  wholly  unmoved  and  uninterested  as  to 
events  in  the  Northern  States,  at  Washington 
even.  The  Federal  government  and  people  were 
more  foreign  to  him  than  China  or  Beloochistan. 
It  was  only  when  ^Ir.  Peters  recounted  some  fresh 


MOSE  EVANS.  299 

injustice  of  the  North,  and  its  consummation  at 
the  South,  that  he  would  express,  as  of  old,  his 
deep  indignation,  Mr.  Peters  most  heartily  concur- 
ring with  him ;  for  my  dear  father  was  held,  you 
know,  Helen,  in  profound  reverence  and  venera- 
tion by  the  entire  county ;  they  wanted  to  send 
him,  at  one  election,  to  the  Legislature,  and 
thought  that  much  the  more  of  him  for  the  loath- 
ing and  contempt  with  which,  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances, he  rejected  the  suggestion.  And  so 
he  slept  and  waked,  ate  and  conversed,  confining 
himself  gradually  to  the  place,  and  at  last  to  the 
house,  so  utterly  alien  to  the  present,  so  wholly 
wrapped  up,  almost  even  from  me,  in  the  past ! 

"  I  occupied  myself  as  fully  as  possible  in  house- 
keeping, poor  old  Aunty  Washington  at  my  side 
all  day,  and  /  had  no  trouble  with  the  freed 
women,  —  it  all  lies  so  much  in  putting  yourself  in 
their  place,  being  patient  and  kind  as  if  they  were 
still  your  slaves.  Tlien  I  would  throw  myself,  as 
I  have  said,  into  music  as  if  I  was  in  ti-aining  to 
bo  a  prima  donna  ;  and  I  really  have  perfected 
myself,  Helen,  to  a  degree  wliich  has  made  our 
home  out  here  the  happier  for  it,  if  anything  could 
make  it  happier.  All  at  once  I  took  to  reading 
aloud  to  my  father  of  mornings.     Not  fiction  or 


300  MOSE  EVANS. 

poetry.     jMy  own   experiences   made   these   seem 
pale  and   poor  in  comparison.     I  wanted   to  get 
into  another  world,  as  it  were,  so  I  read  history. 
I  happened  upon  the  years  of  strife  between  Eliz- 
abeth and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  I  being  a  third 
and  vastly  wiser  queen,  forever  coming   between 
the  other  two  to  set  them  right.     I  do  think  it 
consoled  my  father  a  little  as  to  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment  when   I  told   him  that,  as   the   history 
showed,    the   race   and    the   reformation    seemed 
given  over  then  of  Heaven,  and  wholly,  into  the 
hands,  as  if  it  was  a  bonnet  or  a  ball-dress,  of  two 
such  squabbling  milliners.     The  reading  helped  us 
both,  helped  my  dear  father  in  regard  to  the  past, 
helped  me  in  reference  to  the  future.     Besides,  I 
would  not  tell   you,  but  I  will  write  it,  and  for 
your  eyes,  not  your  husband's,  I  constructed,  all 
along  as  I  read,  a   king   for  myself   out  of   such 
material  as  the  men  of  those  days  afforded,  the 
courtiers  and  polished  gentlemen  of  tlie  time  sup- 
plying me  extremely  little  of  it,  I  assure  you.     In 
fact,  all  my  world  had  crumbled  into  chaos  and 
was  very  slowly  changing   and   reforming,   as  if 
during  centuries  on  centuries,  just  then.     God  has 
finished  it  for  me,  at  last,  dear,  and  I  know  He 
pronounces  it  very  good,  for  oh,  Helen,  Helen,  it 


MOSE  EVANS.  301 

is  beyond  my  poor  pen  to  say  how  mucli,  how  very 
much  my  new  world  is  better  than  my  old ! 

"  I  was  occupied,  too,  with  keeping  in  excellent 
health,  for  my  father's  sake  and  for  the  sake  of 
my  —  future  !  AVhenever  I  could  I  walked  and 
walked.  Several  times  during  the  week  I  would 
have  Aunty  Washington  drive  me  to  the  post- 
office  for  your  dear  letters.  As  if  I  did  not  fully 
know  that  he  knew  every  line  he  wrote  so  politely 
to  you  was  intended  for  me,  and,  really,  for  me 
alone,  Helen !  And  I  slowly  began  to  answer 
them,  every  one.  Not  that  I  ever  actually  wrote 
a  syllable,  as  you  and  he  well  know ;  but,  begin- 
ning with  a  cold  line  or  two,  I  wrote  at  last  sheets 
on  sheets  of  replies,  as  I  walked  and  rode  and  sat 
at  my  piano  !  It  is  the  greatest  pity  they  are  not 
in  real  writing  ;  I  would  love  dearly  to  read  them 
over  to  him  now  ;  would  like  so  much  to  see  how 
matters  in  regard  to  him  began  and  grew  and 
took  the  hues  of  life  ;  for  I  do  solemnly  assure 
you,  Helen,  I  have  no  more  idea  when  it  was  nor 
how  it  was,  than  has  either  he  or  yourself  ! 

"  Every  Sunday,  through  the  rain  even,  I  rode 
to  church  to  hear  Mr.  Parkinson.  Because  I  knew 
he  would  miss  me  so,  but  more  especially  to  let 
liim  see  that  it  could  never  be !     I  was  so  sorry 


302  MOSE  EVANS. 

for  him  then.  But,  dear,  how  could  I  love  him  ? 
He  was  part  of  the  poetry  and  fiction  from  which 
I  shrank.  I  was  so  weary  of  it  all,  if  it  were  only 
that  we  had  just  come  out  of  the  terrible  epic  of 
the  war  and  the  siege  of  Charleston.  What  I 
thirsted  for  was,  not  wine,  but  simple  water  from 
the  rock ;  I  wanted  to  get  down  out  of  the  air 
upon  the  earth  again.  What  I  craved  was  nature, 
reahty,  fact.  I  am  so  glad  he  has  married  that 
good  little  Molly  Robinson.  She  is  as  like  to  a 
thousand  other  country  girls  as  one  blackberry  is 
to  all  the  rest,  but  she  will  be  the  very  wife,  true 
and  strong  and  sensible,  that  he  needs.  And  I  am 
so  glad  that,  instead  of  molding  her  as  he  imag- 
ines he  will  into  his  ideal,  she  will  steadily  and 
very  sweetly  make  him  forget  that  such  an  ideal 
ever  had  place  in  his  imagination.  How  wonder- 
fully wisely,  dear.  Heaven  orders  all  such  things  ; 
and  not  in  the  least  as  we  arrange,  because  so  much 
better !  Speakmg  of  Molly  reminds  me  of  Mr. 
Peters's  odd  little  children.  When  Mr.  Peters 
began  to  live  with  us  I  took  such  a  fancy  to  them. 
They  had  been  lost  once  in  the  '  bottom  '  for  days, 
and  I  think  their  experience  has  changed  them  for 
life  ;  they  were  so  quiet,  with  such  wondering  and 
sorrowful  eyes,  the  mice  hardly  more  stealthy  and 
mute.     I  was  glad  of  it  on  account  of  my  father. 


MOSE  EVANS.  803 

"  I  can  almost  hear  you  say,  '  You  provoking 
thing,  why  do  you  not   go   on  to  tell  about  jMr. 
Evans  ?  '     Did  you  ever  hear,  Helen,  about  people 
who  never  opened  a  letter  from  their  dearest  friend 
for  days   on  days,  reserving   it,  tantaUzing   them- 
selves with  the  future  enjoyment  of   it  ?     Be  pa- 
tient, dear,  I  want  to  tell  you  about  Mr.  Harry 
Peters.     You  know  all  the  negroes  ceased  to  laugh 
and  sing  over  their  work  and  when  cooking  and 
eating  together  almost  all  night  in  their  cabins,  as 
they  used   to   do   before  freedom   brought  all  the 
care  and  weight  of  themselves  upon  them.     After 
Mr.  Peters  came  he  got  them  to  laughing  and  sing- 
inc^  asain  almost  as  much  as  before— he  was  so 
full  of  his  fun,  and  his  dear  httle  wife  of  her  re- 
sponsive laughter,  as  much  of  an  accomplishment 
in  her  as  music,  and  far  sweeter  and  more  natural. 
He  always  had  some  funny  kindness  to  show  me. 
One  day  he  brought  me  a  tin  bucket  of  —  tad- 
poles !     '  I  wanted  you  to  watch  their  legs  come,' 
he  explained.     So  I  poured  them  into  an  old  fruit- 
dish  of  glass,  one  of  the  few  relics  left  by  the  can- 
non and  shells  of  the  siege. 

"  '  Not  a  single  sign  of  any  legs  as  yet,'  he  said, 
'  only  head  and  tail.  Y^et  you  wait,  Miss  Agnes, 
and  as  sure  as  you  live  the  legs  do  come !     Things 


804  MOSE  EVANS. 

don't  stay  as  they  now  are  forever.  Changea  Jo 
happen  !  Without  the  seeking  of  those  tadpoles 
God  gives  them  what  they  need.  If  we  could  only 
float  about  and  wait  as  they  do  ! '  There  was 
more  in  the  merry  eyes  and  manner  of  the  man 
than  in  his  words !  I  thought  of  my  own  helpless- 
ness, it  flashed  upon  me  about  him.  By  Mm  I 
don't  mean  Mr.  Peters.  I  laughed  and  laughed 
until  Mrs.  Peters  and  I  cried  for  company.  Now, 
worms  browsing  upon  green  leaves  while  their 
wings  were  forming  within,  to  break  forth  some 
fine  day  into  radiant  butterflies,  would  have  been 
more  poetical.  But  one  is  so  very  familiar  with 
that ;  the  ugly  tadpoles  were  more  in  keeping  with 
my  matters.  I  laughed  every  day  as  I  leaned 
over  them  swimming  around  and  around  in  their 
world  of  water  in  the  bowl  on  one  end  of  my  piano, 
as  the  people  in  the  other  world  lean  over  and  look 
and,  possibly,  laugh  at  us.  I  even  told  my  father 
about  it,  and  he  used  to  smoke  his  cigar  and  watch 
them  himself  in  his  silent  way.  It  did  us  good, 
and  their  legs  did  come  ;  I  saw  the  whole  tran- 
sition !  A  ludicrous  medicine,  but  it  did  us  good  ! 

"  So  did  Aunty  Washington.  You  know  the 
freeing  of  the  slaves  was  merely  the  success  of  ir- 
religion  to  her,  the  overturning  of  the  Bible.     It 


MOSE  EVANS.  305 

was  like  Philip  of  Spain,  in  my  history,  and  the 
insurgent  reformation.  Aunty  Washington  would 
have  had  her  race  back  into  their  normal  and 
Heaven-ordained  slavery  if  she  could,  was  as 
bigoted  as  an  inquisitor  in  her  views  of  religion 
and  heresy,  her  horror  being  at  the  *  fool  talk  '  of 
the  negro  men,  her  double  horror  at  the  infatua- 
tion of  the  freed  women.  It  was  all  I  could  do  to 
keep  anything  like  peace  upon  the  plantation  ;  she 
took  an  aversion  to  Mr.  Parkinson,  even,  because 
he  neglected  in  his  preaching  so  fundamental  a 
doctrine  as  that  of  slavery.  Dr.  Alexis  Jones,  the 
foppish  young  doctor,  you  remember,  Helen,  was 
liked  by  her  because  they  agreed  in  the  matter. 
It  is  hardly  worth  writing,  but  he  argued  from  the 
researches  of  some  Philadelphia  Dr.  Brown,  I  be- 
lieve, that  the  blacks  were  not  human  ;  the  hair 
being  oval  like  that  of  animals,  under  the  micro- 
scope, '  trichometer,'  he  called  it,  not  round  like 
that  of  the  whites ;  but  I  would  not  mention  this 
if  it  were  not  what  followed  from  it,  for  she  only 
knew  he  was  pro-slavery  and  would  have  him  as 
her  physician  !  I  had  no  idea  of  writing  so  much ; 
it  is  the  climate,  the  weather,  my  husband  !  And 
I  have  been  much  more  eager  to  speak  of  him  al] 
this  time  than  you  can  possibly  have  been  to  hear. 


306  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  How  slowly  ray  tliouglits  turned  to  him  dur- 
ing all  those  long,  long  ages  of  time,  as  it  seemed  ! 
He  was  away  at  college,  in  Europe,  learning  so 
much  and  so  rapidly  ;  and  I  was  in  my  school,  too, 
learning  and  unlearning  even  more.  But,  oh  the 
Buffermg,  Helen  I  Mamma  had  said  to  me,  *  I  used 
to  think,  Agnes,  that  even  the  infinite  God  would 
grow  tired  with  inflicting  so  much  pain  upon  his 
creatures  during  so  many  ages  !  But  we  will  soon 
know  the  meaning,  love  ! '  Her  ideas,  however, 
were  more  general,  Helen,  than  mine.  I  have  to 
centre  my  heart  upon  some  one  person,  and  it 
helped  me  to  submit,  knowing  the  Father  that 
held  the  rod.  But  when  I  came  to  know  the  Son 
that  stooped  by  our  side,  and  for  our  sake,  to  the 
same  terrible  blows,  I  could  endure  it  better ! 
Some  awful  necessity  of  pain  when  even  the  Eter- 
nal God  stoops  to  suffer  it,  for  us  and  with  us  ! 
We  will  soon  understand,  it  is  eternity  without 
paiu,  Helen,  dear  ! 

"  Sometimes  I  would  say,  0  man  bom  of  Mary, 
why  not  some  little  touch  of  womanly  tenderness 
to  me  alone  in  the  world  !  But,  as  I  asked,  it  was 
like  a  mother's  palm  upon  my  head,  Helen,  the 
actual  pressure  of  his  peace !  He  was  with  me  ! 
I  trembled  sometimes  in  the  hush  and  throbbino: 


MOSE  EVANS.  307 

sense  of  his  actual  presence  !  No  fanaticism,  dear, 
fur  I  would  bathe  ray  face  afterward  and  go  out 
and  feed  the  chickens,  visit  the  cabins,  do  house- 
hold things,  with  a  positive  happiness  which  could 
not  have  sprung  merely  from  mthin  me,  no  mate- 
rial there  for  it  at  all ! 

"  You  see  how  I  shrink  from  telling  about  the 
end!  I  cannot  speak  of  my  growing  affection;  it  is 
a  mystery  sacred  even  to  myself !    Now  and  then  a 
half-word  from  the   old  postmaster   about    him. 
Plenty  of  letters  concerning  him  from  yourself  — 
I  say  nothing  of  the  letters  of  his  you  forwarded  ; 
I  will  love  you,  darling,  as  long  as  I  live  !  —  and 
Ur.  Hariy  Peters  was,  in  his  way,  the  ally  of  the 
absent.     I  stood  by  him,  I  remember,   one   day, 
where  the  hands  A^ere  digging  yams ;  for  I  stayed 
in   the  house  as  Uttle   as  possible,  was  over   the 
whole  plantation  and  in  all  weather,  and  took  my 
father,   if   I  could,  with  me;  though  time  stood 
still,  I  must  be  in  motion,  or  die  !     '  See  this  yam, 
IMiss  Agnes,'  he  said,  holding  up  a  potato  which 
was  half  mud.      '  Too  muddy  to  touch.      Now, 
see  ?  '  and  he  washed  it  in  the  bucket  of  water 
standing  by,  with  its  gourd,  for  the  hands,^  and 
then  held  it  up  perfectly  clean,  as  beautiful  in  its 
way  as  an  orange.     '  A  man  may  be  born,'  Mr. 


808  MOSE  EVANS. 

Peters  went  on  to  say,  '  may  live  all  his  life  in  a 
cypress  swamp,  and  be  clean  from  the  mud  himself 
all  the  time.  Father  Hailstorm  said  last  Sunday, 
we  will  be  dug  out  of  the  dust  one  day  clean  as 
you  please  ;  on  the  last  day  I  mean  !  '  For  mat- 
ters changed  after  we  came,  Helen,  and  Harry  is  a 
'  shouting  disciple  '  now ;  full  and  purified  oppor- 
tunity he  has,  these  days,  for  his  singular  humor ! 
And,  by  the  bye,  in  the  absence  East  of  good  ^Ir. 
Parkinson  with  his  bride,  it  was  Father  Hailstorm 
who  married  us  ;  only  Harry  Peters  and  his  wife 
being  present,  for,  with  one  soul  beside,  all  Brown 
County  must  have  been  invited  or  mortally  in- 
sulted at  not  being  '  norated '  to  be  present ! 

"  I  cannot  hasten  as  I  would  ;  my  mmd  came  so 
slowly,  in  fact,  to  centre  upon  him  ;  it  was  cen- 
turies, Helen  !  But  it  came,  that  day,  that  ter- 
rible yet  happy  day,  at  last !  Aunty  Washing- 
ton's latest  folly,  poor  soul,  was  her  faith  m  Dr. 
Jones.  We  feared  he  was  experimenting  with  her 
as  he  would  have  done  with  a  dog.  It  was  on  his 
last  visit  to  her  cabin  he  persisted,  I  remember,  — 
please  have  patience  with  me,  Helen,  —  in  telling 
me  how  his  Dr.  Brown  of  Philadelphia  had  writ- 
ten to  him  for  specimens  of  the  hair  of  all  the 
Indians    possible,    to   be    put   up   in   quills   duly 


MOSE  EVANS.  309 

labeled,  and  he  laughed  about  entering  into  com- 
petition Avitli  Indians,  themselves  too  actively  en- 
gaged already  in  a  collection  of  human  hair ! 
Nonsense,  but  it  all  comes  back  so  vividly  I  must 
write  it  to  have  it  out  of  the  way.  The  negro,  he 
urged,  was  but  a  species  of  beaver  ;  he  had  the 
tolly  to  tell  me  that  Aunty  Washington  need  not 
concern  herself  about  her  soul ;  '  Has  none,'  he 
said,  '  any  more,*  he  added  as  he  rode  off,  '  than 
any  of  the  rest  of  us ! '  Pardon  my  recording  such 
folly. 

"  She  died  before  he  was  out  of  sight,  died, 
Helen,  as  true  to  us  and  to  her  old-fashionecl 
religion  as  any  martyr  of  us  all.  I  was  worn  out 
the  next  day,  for  she  could  not  endure  one  of  the 
'  colored  ladies,'  as  she  called  them,  near  her  when 
she  could  help  it.  I  had  been  beside  the  dead  all 
night.  It  was  the  gloomiest  of  days.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  live-oaks  had  come  yet  closer  about  the 
house,  to  droop  their  mournful  moss  like  crape 
over  the  dead.  The  air  itself  had  halted,  as  it 
were.  The  river  ran  sullenly  through  the  heavy 
silence.  Except  one  or  two  very  old  negroes  tend- 
ing young  turkeys  in  the  yard,  all  the  people  were 
in  the  field,  for  Mrs.  Peters  had  gone  to  her  own 
kouse  with   her  children   for   a   few  hours,  after 


810  MOSE  EVANS. 

helping  me  with  the  dead.  It  was  the  deliberate 
doing  of  God,  the  arrival  of  such  an  hour,  Helen  ! 
I  had  reached  at  that  moment,  the  deepest  point 
of  descent  into  the  dark  valley.  My  soul,  partly 
in  consequence  of  my  reading  about  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth, —  the  history  did  me  that  good,  —  had 
reached  its  strongest  strength  as  by  pressure  of 
supreme  strain.  But  the  body  was  faihng !  It 
seemed  to  me  I  could  not  bear  a  straw's  weight 
more  and  live. 

"  It  is  as  if  it  took  place  yesterday.  About  four 
o'clock  that  dreadful  afternoon  I  heard  a  noise! 
When  I  heard  the  front  gate  open  and  fall  to  in 
'the  dead  silence,  I  knew  it  was  not  my  father,  for 
ho  had  ridden  to  town,  for  the  first  time  in 
months,  in  vague  idea  of  seeing  Dr.  Jones,  though 
what  for  he  could  have  told  no  more  than  myself  I 
And  Dr.  Jones  need  not  have  fled  the  county,  as 
he  afterward  did  !  Every  one  knew  how  very 
heavy,  tremulous,  feeble  my  father  had  grown ! 
God  forbid  I  should  ever  see  that  silly  young 
physician  again,  but  I  do  not  think  my  father 
could  have  lasted,  if  he  had  not  met  him,  much 
longer. 

"  I  was  sewing  at  a  white  band  for  poor  Aunty 
Washington,  not  weeping,  too  exhausted  for  that, 


MOSE  EVANS.  811 

fiot  tliinkliig,  or  foelhig  even  ;  in  the  condition,  I 
suppose,  of  the  dying  daring  the  one  moment 
before  entering  upon  eternal  life.  The  front  gate 
fell  to  upon  its  latch  and  all  my  soul  returned 
again  as  from  its  lowest  ebb  I  I  knew  who  it  was ! 
I  was  calm,  far  more  so  than  I  am  while  I  write, 
Helen.  In  one  moment !  And  during  that  mo- 
ment the  centuries  had  rolled  away  !  Were  gone 
forever  and  ever  !  I  rose  and  went  out  upon  the 
porch.  I  knew  him  and  did  not  know  him  as  he 
stood  there.  On  the  instant  of  seeing  him  it  was 
with  me  as  when  you  look  at  an  object  in  a 
stereoscope,  first  a  blurring  as  by  the  slow  blend- 
ing of  the  two  objects  which  are  the  same  into 
one.  One  !  It  was  but  a  moment,  Helen,  and 
the  rude  countryman  of  the  centuries  ago  is 
blended  into  and  forever  lost  in  the  noble  Chris- 
tian gentleman  of  to-day !  But  an  instant,  and 
we  were  to  each  other,  and  forever,  as  if  we  had 
known  and  loved  each  other  all  our  lives.  Nat- 
ural !  It  was  so  perfectly  natural !  As  it  will  be 
at  death  to  us  and  our  friends  in  heaven  forever, 
after  the  first  moment  or  two.  Yes,  natural  as 
trees  and  sky  and  every  other  daily  matter ;  not 
rapture,  nor  astonishment,  simple,  sweet  nature, 
and  matter  of  course  ! 


312  MOSE  EVANS. 

"  I  acknowledge  I  do  not  know  liow  or  when 
we  would  have  first  met  had  it  not  been  as  it  was. 
He  stood  there,  his  hat  in  his  hand,  cahn,  strong, 
confident,  like  some  royal  duke ;  don't  smile, 
Helen  !  In  that  one  first  glance  I  saw  all  he  had 
gained  during  absence  ;  observed,  even,  the  slight 
band  of  red  upon  his  brow  from  the  pressure  there 
of  his  hat. 

"  '  Please  do  not  be  alarmed,'  he  said,  '  but  your 
father  needs  your  care  ; '  his  manner  expressed  all 
the  rest.  You  have  heard  it  over  and  over  again, 
Helen.  My  father  had  met  Dr.  Alexis  Jones  on 
the  road  coming  to  our  house.  I  do  not  know  that 
he  said  a  syllable  to  exasperate  my  father  when 
they  met.  I  do  not  know  what  my  father  may 
have  said  to  him,  for  he  was  greatly  angered  at 
his  treatment  of  our  poor  servant ;  and  then  he 
was  so  shaken  and  feeble !  He  had  fallen  from 
his  horse.  Dr.  Jones  was  off  his  horse  too,  trying 
with  terrified  face,  his  lancet  in  his  hand,  to  lift 
the  poor  body  from  the  mire,  when  he  rode  up 
from  his  long  absence  !  It  was  near  the  door  of 
Harry  Peters'  house,  and  now,  there  at  our  gate, 
was  Mr.  Peters'  ambulance,  and  laid  along  in  it 
and  covered  with  a  blanket,  was  my  last  relative 
on  earth  —  and  dead  ! 


MOSE  EVANS.  313 

"  It  relieves  me  to  write  it,  Helen  !  I  was  gUul 
wheu  Mr.  Peters  had  gone  home  to  bring  his  wife 
back,  and  he  and  I  were  left  alone  upon  one  side 
and  the  other  of  the  lounge  on  which  they  had  laid 
my  father.  I  was  not  afraid,  with  him  there,  to 
uncover  after  a  while  the  face  of  my,  and  his, 
dead.  You  know,  Helen,  the  noble  bearing  of  my 
father,  and  now  his  whole  aspect  was  nobler  than 
ever ;  the  set  face  of  a  king  throned  forever  far 
above  the  wreck  of  South,  or  North,  or  the  world, 
or  —  of  himself  !  You  know,  dear,  I  never  speak 
upon  such  matters  to  any  one,  but  I  can  write  it ; 
could  it  have  been  ordered  better  ?  The  terrible 
preparation  in  botli  of  us,  my  husband  and  myself, 
going  before ;  the  pain,  in  my  case  who  needed  it 
most,  continued  to  the  last  degree  I  could  endure 
and  exist,  and  then  ?  That  when,  in  my  father, 
my  last  hope  was  gone,  with  my  dead  father  he 
should  come  !  That,  of  all  the  world,  he  only 
should  be  there  to  aid  me  with  my  poor  father  as 
with  the  hands  of  a  son  !  In  the  same  act,  Helen, 
he  had  brought  me  the  last  of  all  I  had  loved  most 
dearly,  and  the  first  of  all  I  now  love,  love,  oli 
how  much  more  !  I  suppose  it  will  be  that  way  at 
death ;  when  I  let  go  hereafter  my  husband's  hand 
in  dying,  it  will  be  to  clasp,  as  I  do  so,  the  hands 


814  MOSE  EVANS. 

again  of  fatlier,  mother,  Theodore,  in  heaven !  Is 
it  morbid,  my  talking  so  much  of  death  and  the 
other  Hfe  ?  You  know  we  do  die  as  well  as  live, 
and  that  there  is  another  world  as  well  as  this  ! 
and  I  dare  say  I  will  soon  grow  out  of  this  period 
of  my  life,  and  become  worldly  enough. 

"  I  spoke  of  heaven  !  I  tremble  at  my  happi- 
ness, Helen.  He  has  come  as  I  write,  to  the  gate, 
riding  his  horse,  leading  mine  saddled  for  our 
afternoon  ride  to  the  post-office  over  the  prairie. 
I  will  seal  this  without  reading  it  and  take  it  with 
me,  for  we  gallop  together  eyerj  afternoon  we  can 
through  the  pure,  bracing  wind,  to  the  next  town 
for  our  mail,  the  very  brooks  we  leap  our  horses 
over  sparkling  with  secrets  of  the  silver  and  gold 
below  the  soil.  How  my  blood  bounds,  and,  he 
says  so,  my  cheeks  glow,  and  my  eyes  brighten  ! 
It  is  not  fever  but  pure  health,  even  if  I  laugh 
so  much,  have  so  much  of  nothing  to  say  !  Oh, 
beautiful  world  !  Oh,  beautiful  God  !  My  eyes 
dim  with  happy  tears ;  God  has  been,  in  and  by 
all  my  pain,  too,  so  very,  very  good !  I  have 
called  to  him  to  wait  only  a  moment  while  I  beg 
of  you,  Helen,  to  look  through  my  glad  eyes  at 
the  glorious  landscape  in  tliis  oiir  new  home. 
Brown  plain,  glittering  river,  snow-capped  moun- 


MOSE  EVANS.  315 

tains  in  the  distance,  atmosphere  pure  and  brilliant 

and  laughing  with  life.     The  people,  too,  are  free 

and  strong  and  impulsive  as  I  am.     But  ^\hat  do  I 

care  for  anything  else  ?     There  he  sits  upon  his 

horse  at  the  gate,  Helen,  in  the  glory  of  his  pure 

and   niiifrnificent   manhood,  modest   as  a  ^Yoman, 

wise  and  good  and  true  !     He  is  going  into  hard 

work.      It    may   be    at    railroads,   or   mines,    or 

schools,  or  politics  if  necessary,  —  pure  and  strong 

enouirh  even  for  that !  —  whatever  is  best.     For  it 

is  Eden,  a  new  world  ;  for  a  new  man  and  a  new 

woman  !     We  are  very  happy  !     I  know  that  it  is 

as  natural  to  our  veins,  after  our  long  winter,  as  is 

its  exuberant  life,  when  spring  comes  to  oak  and 

to  rose-bush,  even   if   other  winters  are   sure   to 

come  hereafter  !     Strange  as  it  seems  to  say,  part 

of  the  solid  ground  of  my  happiness  is  in  knowing 

so   well   how   he   will   enduie   calamity   when   it 

comes,  as  in  some  form  it  must  come  to  us,  too,  in 

the  future  as  in  the  past;   endure  it  as  the  cliff 

of  rock  endures  the  sea !     No,  rather  as  a  child, 

grown  strong  enough  in  virtue  of  all  that  has  gone 

before,  endures  the  dealing  of  one  whom  he  has 

thoroughly  found  out  to  be  his  personal  friend. 

And  next  to  that  other,  Helen,  I  love  this  man  I 

Love  him,  Helen,  love  him,  love  him  !     If  I  could 


316  MOSE  EVANS. 

only  tell  you,  not  merely  wi'ite  you,  how  I  love 
him  !  I  love,  Helen  darling,  as  I  will  love  ray 
Saviour  and  him  in  heaven  eternally  !  Because 
by  these  two  I  have  been  made  all  I  am.  By  the 
one  infinitely  more  than  by  the  other,  but  the  kind 
of  influence  the  same  in  both  —  the  almighty  in- 
fluence of  love  !  And  he  believes  the  same  of  me, 
as  if  my  poor  hands  had  ever  lifted  him  from  such 
a  cypress  swamp  as  his  hands  have  lifted  me !  I 
respect  and  esteem  your  admirable  husband,  my 
dear ;  but  mine  is  a  grand  duke,  an  emperor  "  — 

And  here  I  do  sincerely  think  it  is  time  to  stop 
copying  her  letters  !  My  nerve  fails,  lest  Helen 
should  suddenly  return  and  should  arrest  it  all. 
It  is  very  hazardous  !  Women  like  to  have  their 
husbands  do  things  without  consulting  them,  at 
least  as  variety  to  steady  obedience  ;  and  a  man 
must  assert  himself  occasionally,  beard  some  sort 
of  giant,  storm  some  species  of  batter}^  if  only  to 
reassert  his  ante-marital  manhood.  My  pen,  how- 
ever, is  hastened  by  the  fear  that  Helen  may  have 
some  feminine  presentiment  of  what  is  being  done 
in  her  absence,  and  hurry  back.  Allow  me,  then, 
to  resume  and  complete  my  task  lest  such  a 
catastrophe  to  this  narrative  should  befall.  The 
entire  venture  is  out  of  my  hue  of  business  al- 


5WSE  EVANS.  317 

together.  I  am  not  as  concerned  about  the  opin- 
ions of  the  reader  as  I  am  in  reference  to  what 
these  two  ladies  will  think  of  my  mode  of  closing 
this  simple  narrative.  Opinion  of  the  reader  ? 
I  make  no  pretense  as  to  my  way  of  relating 
matters,  and  what  to  anybody  is  the  opinion 
people  have  of  facts  ?  You  might  as  well  speak  of 
their  opinions  about  iron  or  coal  or  land.  Which  ' 
reminds  me  to  state  that  I  intend  to  make  it  con- 
venient to  be  at  our  company's  office  on  Wall 
Street  about  the  time  the  final  chapters  of  this 
narrative  are  due  in  Charleston  !  I  am  safe,  for 
the  present,  from  the  friends  in  California ;  unless, 
indeed,  as  is  sure  to  be  the  case  sooner  or  later,  I 
fear,  we  have  him  in  Congress  ;  in  which  case 
there  will  be  one  man,  at  least,  stanch  as  oak  in 
Washington  even ! 

Few  readers  of  this  narrative,  to  close  with  due 
solemnity,  but  must  have  heard  something  of  the 
circumstances  therein  recorded,  which  got  into 
certain  papers  both  South  and  North.  If  we  will 
wait  awhile,  unless  I  greatly  mistake,  we  will  all 
of  us  hear  plenty  more  about  him.  About  him,  I 
mean,  and  I  inscribe  it  here  in  no  sense  as  an 
epitaph,  whom  I  designate  in  these  pages  as  — 
MosE  Evans. 


.^ 


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COLLECTION 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

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